Misunderstandings and Terrible Consequences
by AShadowedLife
Summary: Alternate version of 'Wedding Bell Blues'/'Say Something' in season 5. What if Chris hadn't just let Lorelai go home after she left the hall? Please R
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first Gilmore Girls fanfiction, so I hope that I can keep up the tone and characters of the show, be easy on me! This is an alternate version of 'Season 5, _Wedding Bell Blues_ and _Say Anything…_' - what could have happened on Lorelai's way back to Stars Hollow. Enjoy! And please let me know what you think – the good, the bad and the ugly. Any criticisms, any praise (hope there is some haha) and any suggestions for the storyline. On with the story…_

* * *

"Yeah, so would I…."

The resounding echo of her heels on the floor was full of determination, anger and worry. She had to find Luke. She knew she'd screwed up by not telling him, she knew she should have listened to Rory's warning, but she couldn't change that now. If he'd just give her some time to explain, they could work it out. But for now she had to wait for a damn taxi. After what had happened, there was no way Luke would have stayed around in the parking lot. _Yep, _noted sadly, _no green truck in sight._

Tears welled in her eyes as the events from the night ran through her head. Tears of anger, tears of frustration, tears of sadness and of guilt. There were so many emotions she was feeling and they were overwhelming. Running her hands over her face, she tried to clear her head, working on a mental plan of how she would explain everything to Luke. As the tears cleared and she began to brace herself for the conversation she was doubtless would occur when she arrived back in Stars Hollow, a familiar and currently unwanted voice, slightly slurred, emerged from the darkness around her.

"Lor!"

Lorelai physically flinched at the overly used nickname, just one more sign that Christopher was unable to let go of his high school memories. Her voice almost lost in the noise of the traffic nearby, her whispered "Don't…" fell away, unheard by the man walking up behind her. So, of course, he was not deterred from his line of mission. Hearing his heavy footsteps on the concrete behind her, she froze. What was he going to do? Beg her to get back with him again? Get angry at her for storming out? Not that _he_ was the one who should be angry – _she_ didn't just try and get _him_ dumped. She really was quite intrigued as to what he would do. Of course, what he _actually_ did was completely unexpected and completely inappropriate.

The rough hand that grabbed her arm caused her to jump, the hard touch being a surprise. Chris spun her around, forcing her to face him and forcing his lips to come crushing down on hers. The action was so sudden that for a few seconds, Lorelai couldn't even register what had just occurred. As soon as she did, she pushed against his chest as hard as she could, but the effort was in vain. The steel grip he had on her arms prevented any movement and his lips were once again on hers. She tried again. Pushing him away – although her arms were still captive – she was able to get out,

"Chris, stop it! Don't do this…"

"Lor, stop fighting it!" Chris growled. "We belong together, you know it!"

"No–" but she was cut off again by a harsh kiss. Then she got angry.

Her hand shot out so fast that he didn't have any time to react before it collided with his face. The sickening slap was cause enough for him to drop her arms and clutch his cheek. Even in his alcohol and lust filled mind, he was able to register that that was the first time Lorelai had ever hit him. There was a moment in the stunned silence that ensued where Chris thought he'd stepped a line, that she was angry, but that spurred another train of thought. _What's _she_ got to be angry about? She's the one going out with that diner guy while I'm sitting around waiting for her. She knows we should be together, but she's trying to get back at me by flaunting that stupid relationship around in front of me!_

So he lunged forward and grabbed her arms once again – his hold was so strong she was sure she'd have bruises. In one quick movement, he spun her around, dragged her away from the road and slammed her back against the rough brick of the building. The pain in her shoulders after that movement was unbelievable. Lorelai knew he had strength, but, boy! This was unimaginable. _The powers of alcohol and manipulation_, she thought sourly through the pain.

"Chris, please don't do this. Please," she begged. "You know my mother, she's just trying to manipulate the situation. To manipulate _you_! Please don't do this…"

But Chris just shook his head, frowning at the worried form before him.

"Lor, you know this has nothing to do with her. We belong together, we're right together. We've already got a family – you, me and Rory. You don't need anybody else!"

He was getting angrier as he pinned her between himself and the building.

"Chris, no! We haven't been in a relationship in years, Chris. We saw each other for what, one day, before you found out Sherry was pregnant? Not even one day? And before that we hadn't been in a relationship for 17 years. That's 20 years, Chris! You have to let go."

"No!"

"Yes! I love Luke!"

And in that moment, without even thinking, she realised it was true. _That_ was why she hadn't told Luke about that tequila night with Chris. She knew it wasn't just because it hadn't seemed like a big deal due to the fact it was about his dad dying, but because she knew how jealous Luke could get. Even when they weren't together, he was jealous and protective – if she's told Luke, he would have jumped to conclusions and bolted. That's why she didn't tell him. Because she wouldn't be able to take it if he left.

Upon hearing her proclamation, Chris started, obviously affected by the words. He drew his hand back, keeping her pinned with the other, and delivered a swift blow with the back of his hand to her rosy cheek, clipping the side of her eye. The blow was so unexpected that all she could do was hang her head, unable to move and unable to meet his eyes as her own filled with tears for the second time that night. Then she could feel his breath hot in her ear. His sickening whisper followed,

"You'll forget him…."

That was the worst thing he could have said in that moment. He _knew_ she was with someone else and he didn't care. He was completely disregarding her wants – the man that had always said he just wants her to be happy was now forcing her to do something that could only succeed in doing the opposite. At that thought, a sob that had been welling deep inside her escaped her trembling lips. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the situation to disappear.

"Shh…" she heard in her ear, causing her to cry harder.

His hand – the one that had, years ago, been comforting and loving, the same one that had just a moment ago had been the cause of a future cruise – began to run down her side, pausing just slightly as it reached her waist, before continuing down to her thigh, just below her dress line, causing her to shiver in repulsion. And then her dress lifted, and she once again registered what was going on. Snapping out of her vulnerable state, she grabbed his wrist and moved to pull his hand away from its position that was too close to her underwear that it should have been.

"Chris, no! Stop. Please don't do this! Stop!"

But he was too far gone. He simply yanked his hand away, crushing her to the wall once again and reached under her dress, moving to kiss her once again.

"No," she mumbled against the strong force of his lips. He ignored her, running his other hand down her body as well. He seemed not to notice that he had relinquished his death grip on her, so she pushed him away, scrambling from his touch and nearly tripping over. Chris, however, was not able to regain his posture in time and fell over backwards, landing on the ground with a heavy thump. Stealing one last glance over her shoulder at the man she would never be able to look at the same way again, she moved to run away. Noticing the taxi pulling into the drive, Lorelai ran, stopping only when she reached the door of the yellow cab.

"Stars Hollow, please," she sniffled, as she watched Chris scramble up off the concrete drive.

"Yes, ma'am," said the driver.

Even after what had just happened, and even in her shocked state, she was able to wrinkle up her nose at that.

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_So, thoughts? Comments? Approval, disapproval? Improvements? Let me know anything! I've got a basic outline for my plot, but let me know any suggestions you'd like to make for the story._

_Oh, and for anyone reading my other stories, do not fear – I know I've taken sooo long, but I'm currently writing new chapters. And I'll never just leave a story unfinished, so, however long it takes me, don't worry – I will finish!_

_I'll update this soon, I've already got some of it written for chapter 2._

_Please review!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Wow! Oh my, you guys made my day, week, month! Thankyou all for your kind words and adding my story to your alerts and favourites. I haven't been able to wipe the stupid smile off my face since I got my first review. I'm sooo glad you guys are enjoying it so far._

_Well, here's chapter 2, told you it wouldn't be that long til I updated. On with the show!_

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Running shaking hands through her always beautiful locks, Lorelai tried in vain to compose herself. She couldn't show up at Luke's in the weakened state that she was currently in. they needed to talk, he'd said so himself, and she couldn't let what Chris had just done interfere with that. The last thing she wanted was for Luke to forgive her simply because of pity. She was always the strong one, she was Wonder Woman….she couldn't just fall apart. _But Christopher just…_– what _did_ he do? Try to…rape her? Try to _force_ her? What could you label it? As she was trying to identify what _had_ just happened, the deep voice which resonated from the front seat didn't register until it had finished. She'd missed what had been said.

"Sorry?" she asked, her voice catching slightly in her throat, an after effect of all the crying she had done that night.

"I said, 'You alright?' You look kinda upset. You want to talk about anything? I'm a good listener." He good-naturedly offered. But she couldn't. She could barely process the events of the night herself, how could she just blurt it out to a complete stranger?

"No, no, I'm fine…" Lorelai tried and failed miserably at convincing him as much as herself.

"Just a bit tired, that's all. It's, uh…it's been a long night." She concluded, unintentionally glancing out of the darkened window…back to where _he_ was.

"Ah. Okay, if you're sure."

Lorelai knew he could tell there was more to it than that but she couldn't think about it just now. Not until she talked to Luke. Luke had to come first. Not Chris. But as much as the driver knew that the woman sitting behind him didn't want to talk and that he should stay quiet, he had noticed something whilst peeking in the rear view mirror.

"Oh, hey, you, uh…You got a little something…" he trailed off, gesturing to his eye. He quietly observed Lorelai fishing around in her purse and saw her pull out a small compact mirror.

"Oh…" she breathed. In the corner of her eye, small as anything yet somehow noticeable to even the untrained eye, was a patch of broken skin. A small, bleeding cut right where Chris had clipped her. The driver reached into the glove compartment and handed her a tissue.

"Thanks," she mumbled, avoiding his gaze. _Luke first_, she reminded herself as she dabbed at the small cut. She had to forget about this for the time being. She had to not think about it…push it to the back of her mind until she spoke to Luke. But as she removed the tissue from her eye and spotted several dots of blood, _her_ blood, she couldn't stop the tears that welled once again in her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she squeezed them shut. Lorelai had always seen crying as a sign of weakness. She'd never let _anyone_ see her be weak. Not her parents, not her friends, not even her own daughter. No, _especially_ not her daughter. And she couldn't let this stranger in front of her see her be weak. She'd never see him again, but she couldn't cry in front of him – and although she felt as weak now as she ever had in her life, she couldn't let herself show it. The one feeling she _never_ wanted to be directed or associated with her was pity.

She could feel her driver's eyes on her through the mirror, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Lorelai had shown no signs of wanting to talk – in fact, she'd shown several to make it clear she didn't want to talk – and something about her appearance stopped him from prying. Before she knew it, they were at Stars Hollow, in front of Luke's diner. She paid the fare and moved to walk away. She hadn't walked but a few steps from the curb before she heard, "You take care of yourself, alright?" from behind her. You take care of yourself: simple words. Although they could have been said to anyone _by_ anyone, Lorelai knew the deep meaning his words had. She could hear the worry and concern in his voice. She ignored it.

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After a quick and somewhat infuriating exchange with Cesar at the diner, and another slightly grating one with Morey and Babette – both occasions of which Lorelai had been very careful to keep her fringe slightly more forward than she usually would and tilt her head on just the right angle so as to keep any evidence of her little run in quiet – Lorelai left a hurried and rambling message on Luke's cell phone. She'd tried to call him once or twice when she first got in the taxi, but to no avail. _Damn it, _she silently cursed when she heard his recorded voice playing back to her once again.

"Luke, it's uh, me. Again." She laughed nervously. "Well, so, uh, another very exciting night comes to a close, huh? Um," she spared a glance up at the dark apartment windows above her and continued nervously. "I don't think you're home, so I'm going home. Um, I'll leave my cell phone on, or call me at home. Anytime you want. Okay, bye." Moving to hang up, she paused. "Or, just _please_ call me, okay? Bye." She couldn't just leave this unresolved. She _needed_ to talk to him.

Sighing, Lorelai turned around and began the walk home, absentmindedly turning corners. On shaking legs, she was merely on autopilot. In the silence and emptiness that was 9:00pm in Stars Hollow, there was nothing to distract her from her wandering thoughts. Silently praying for something to keep her from thinking, Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief. She spotted Kirk.

The one good thing about Kirk – apart from the constant giggles and headshakes he invokes – is that no matter how goofy and unusual he acts, he is an excellent source of information, even when he doesn't mean to be. Having 43 jobs has its perks sometimes. So Lorelai headed off in the direction of the Black White and Read Bookstore, to where Luke was currently sitting watching some movie or other, probably trying as hard as he could to cool off from Christopher's actions and Lorelai's tendency to avoid conflict with those closest to her. Excluding her mother, that is.

And so she stood outside of the hybrid bookstore-come-movie theatre bracing herself. If there was ever a moment in her life when Lorelai had to stay strong, now was it. Luke was a very particular being – she knew that if she pushed him too hard, and let her impenetrable barricade melt, he could drop and run. She couldn't take that; she couldn't melt.

The doorknob turned much too easily underneath her shaking hands and she entered quietly. When she spotted the familiar figure in the darkness of the theatre, she took a breath and approached him quietly – after all, they _were_ in a movie theatre. She didn't know what to say. How could she explain why she'd done what she did without breaking down? But regardless of not having a speech prepared, she sat down next to him.

He was avoiding her gaze. As she sat looking at him, his eyes never once left the screen. So she said the only thing that came to her, "What are ya watching?" And although she wasn't expecting him to want to chat, his cold, "Something stupid," almost caused her to flinch. How was she going to do this? She sighed, turning back to look at him.

"I've been frantically trying to call your cell phone." She could hear the quiver in her voice and hated herself for it, but she forced herself to keep talking.

"I turned it off." Was all he said. Although Lorelai had always teased him about his monosyllabic ways, his short non-descript answers were worrying her.

"That's what I figured…" she mumbled, knowing that as much as they could try to avoid the subject, it would come up eventually, no matter what way you approached it. She sighed. "So, do you wanna hear my explanations? Coz I've got 'em. Explanations, perspective, apologies," _Bruises, _she mentally added. "I've got them all, and I'm dying to share them with you."

"I just need some time." He answered shortly.

"Time…?" Lorelai asked, praying to whomever that he didn't mean what she thought he meant.

"Little time, to think…" he trailed off.

"And to process." She added, finishing his thought. He nodded his agreement. She did understand but she fought as hard as she could to keep her tears at bay. 'Time' was never a good thing. She'd had guys say they needed 'time' before, and as much as she always wanted to believe it was simply cooling off, it always ended the same way. As much as she'd mentally convinced herself to leave the most recent Christopher issue to the back of her mind, her strength was fading. She couldn't lose him. "Luke?" she whispered. He grunted in response. Lorelai could see that he was trying to keep up his own strength, but she could also see he wasn't trying to control his emotions – he was trying to control his temper. But she couldn't walk away.

"Look at me…" she begged, still in the same whispered tone. But when he heard her, he simply glanced in her direction before returning his attention back to the projected screen. "Luke…" she tried again, her voice breaking on the word.

"Don't." Luke warned. He knew his temper was as close to it's fuse as it had been in a long time, and he never wanted to _see_ Lorelai in pain, even as much as she'd caused him by lying. "I'll…" he started. As much as he was hurting, he didn't want to hurt her back. "I'll call you when I'm ready, okay?" He left it at that.

"….Okay…" Lorelai murmured, still fighting to keep back the tears that were threatening to spill. "So…" she sighed. "I should…." When Luke made no move to speak anymore, she rolled her eyes at her feeble attempts at reconciliation and stood to leave the theatre. She knew that in the darkness he hadn't seen any cuts or bruises she had, and she chastised herself for even trying to get him to look. She didn't want to be pitied but she had practically begged for it just now. Luke said nothing more, and so she left, tears trickling down her cheeks as she made her way home.

When Lorelai finally returned to the Crap Shack, as her and Rory had affectionately named their house, the phone began to ring. Anxiously unlocking the front door with her jumble of keys, hoping for all that she was worth that it was Luke, Lorelai rushed inside.

"Hello?" she panted as she picked up the receiver.

* * *

_Oooh, who's on the phone, who's on the phone? A cookie for anyone who can guess who it is!_

_So, what did you guys think? I know it was mainly things from the actual episode, but I just had to get to when she spoke to Luke, so don't be too angry at the lack of originality for this chapter. I want to keep it as close to the show as possible, just with the different subplot. Please let me know what you thought anyway!_

_Replies to unsigned reviews:_

L/Lshipper: _Thanks, love __ it's good to know you're enjoying and I'm glad I've invested some interest into you. Hmmm, is Christopher _that_ dumb? Let's wait and see!_

TheTBone: _Shall do, hon, shall do! I definitely plan to finish this story, so never fear. Thanks for reading _

SarahLouisex3: _Great to know you're liking it so far, and don't worry, it shouldn't be too long between updates. Hope you're still reading by then :P_

_And thankyou to each and every one of you who added my story to their alerts/favourites, it means the world to me that people are reading this!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Boy, this story has taken over my life! HA, I can't stop writing this, and it's even stopped me from writing my other stories!_

_So thankyou all again for reading and all of your reviews, I hope you're all still liking it and I hope I'm writing it okay. I am trusting you all to let me know if I'm not! *shifty eyes*_

_If at any stage I make some mistake, or inconsistency or my writing gets confusing, let me know. Thanks _

_So how's everyone going? ("Life, dig it man…") :P My life's alright, if anyone's wondering __ Year 12's pretty heavy but not too bad, so let's hope it doesn't make me too busy that I can't write this in time._

_Anyway, enough yabbering – onto Chapter 3… _

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"_Hello?" she panted as she picked up the receiver._

"Lor…it's me…" Chris confessed, his voice faltering and uncertain. With the recognition of who it _really_ was on the phone, rather than who she _wanted_ it to be, Lorelai's heart sped up so fast, it could have been mistaken for the sound of a multi-race winning stallion's hooves. Her breath hitched, and no words came out. Having pushed the night's events to the back of her mind so successfully, she'd almost forgotten. _Almost._ Of course, she wouldn't _ever_ be able to forget, but it had been pushed aside. With his voice, it all came rushing back. She hung up with such vigour, the phone slipped from her suddenly sweating palms and fell with a crash on the small end table, scattering bits of paper and photographs in every which way.

"Oh, my god…" she whispered to the empty house. Her mind was blank, she couldn't think. Despite how her body was responding to the phone call, Lorelai's brain had gone into a temporary hibernation. When it finally did kick back into its usual normalcy, the only thought she had was: _how could he call here…now, after what he _just_ did, not an hour ago?_ Just an hour ago, he had her slammed up against a brick wall, forcefully kissing her – and not in the good way, mind you – and now he was calling her house, acting hesitant, like _he_ was the one who was scared. Christopher called. Daring to sound like a lost little boy.

Shaking her head and trying desperately to ignore the sickening tightness of her stomach that appeared with Christopher's voice, Lorelai couldn't help but let her eyes wander to the small mirror just above the now scattered end table that was the occasional home for her phone. Sure enough, just as she had suspected, a minor discoloration was making itself visible – just one after-effect of the lovely beating she'd received. Tearing her eyes from the appalling vulnerability that stared back at her, Lorelai's eyes next wandered to the tipped over photograph of a little nude baby Rory standing next to the tub.

Ignoring the niggling voice in the back of her mind that said, '_That's her father…the father of your child did that to you,'_ Lorelai stirred up the fading energy she had and started to descend the stairs to crawl into bed and enjoy the momentary relief from…well, life. But someone else had other plans. The phone began to ring again. And she let it. Knowing who it was, with her already beating heart, Lorelai's breath quickened, and she stood frozen in the middle of the stairs, listening to her inappropriately cheerful greeting on the answering machine.

"Look, Lor, I'm sorry…" Chris began, obviously unsure of what to say. "Please, just listen..." His voice was almost pleading, and Lorelai was brought back to her own pleading voice echoing in her head. "I was drunk, I—" He cut himself off, clearly searching for the right words. "I wasn't thinking, I…I _couldn't think_," Christopher struggled to explain. "I was _drunk_!"

All through his speech, his lame attempt at apology – as ridiculous as it was – Lorelai stood still, breathing deeply; her face expressionless and her eyes not leaving the phone. _Is he honestly trying to _apologise_ for that!? What, does he think that's going to make a difference right now?_ She thought, getting angrier and angrier as his voice continued.

"Come on, Lor, you know what I'm like when I'm drunk! You've known me for years, you know what happens. You know I couldn't help it—" With that, Lorelai shot down the stairs, snatching up the receiver with such abandon that any onlooker would have marvelled at the usually cheery woman's anger.

"I've known you for years, so that means I'm supposed to just go, _'well, he's drunk, don't worry about it.' _Is that it?" she screeched, letting out only a portion of the hurt and anger that had been inflicted on her that night. Although it didn't feel like simply one night to her…it felt like a week had gone by already.

"Lor, pl—" Christopher started, striving to regain a 'civil' explanation, but Lorelai wouldn't have it.

"No, Chris! You are _seriously_ saying that just because you're drunk and say an oh-so-convincing – note the subtle sarcasm – apology, I'm supposed to forgive and forget!? I mean, I've got bruises on my face from where _you_, the father of my child, hit me. I'm sure I've got bruises on my arm from where _you_ had me pinned up to a wall against my will. And I've got a tissue with _my_ blood on it, again from when _the father of my kid_ hit me!" she shrieked. When all but silence answered her, she couldn't stop herself from continuing. "Oh, and my boyfriend won't speak to me right now because you made him think I'm only with him to pass the time til _you're_ ready, but _none_ of that matters because you were drunk. Is that honestly what I'm taking from this, Chris?! Huh!?"

After several moments of silence, Lorelai almost had to strain to hear Chris's whispered, "Oh my god…" He sounded in awe. Lorelai guessed in his drunken state, he still hadn't truly realised the impact of his actions. "I'm _so_ sorry, Lor…" he said, his voice soft. When Lorelai couldn't bring herself to say anything else, Christopher hung up. Shaking, she stood with the phone pressed against her ear, the dial-tone playing back to her over and over again.

Dropping the phone back down and crawling up the stairs, she sighed. She hadn't realised how tired she actually was. As she neared the door of her bedroom, quickly changing into her sweats and dragging herself under the sheets, Lorelai let the day's events replay through her head. All the while that she had been stumbling through the evening – riding in the taxi, talking to Luke, talking to Christopher – she still hadn't let herself relive everything. But now, in the dark house, it was inevitable. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she remembered, and sobs escaped her mouth, and she eventually fell into a deep exhausted sleep.

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The next morning was a tough one. Of course, since Luke needed 'time', Lorelai couldn't go to the diner for breakfast, so she had to suffice with two stale Pop Tarts and a very bad cup of coffee, Lorelai had gone into habit mode and went to leave the house before remembering the bruise and cuts on her face. Moving to the mirror, she had carefully applied some foundation, making sure to cover any sign of violence from the night before. Satisfied that no one would be able to see anything, Lorelai drove in the jeep to work – driving right past the diner, so that was _great_ – and arrived at the Dragonfly.

Forcing the poignant look from her face, she had moved up the steps and was greeted with a surly Michel. When all he did was gripe about the fact that she was late, Lorelai thought dryly, _Ah, the miracle of make-up._ Having to deal with several guests and employees was hard enough for Lorelai without having a grumpy Michel questioning everything that happened during the morning, and it eventually piled up too much for her and she snapped.

"Look, Michel, we're doing this, so either hop on board or hop off!" Lorelai barked, turning to look in the fridge.

"Okay, you don't need to bite my nose off…" was Michel's tart reply before he turned on his heel and stormed out of the kitchen.

Lorelai sighed. She hadn't meant to yell at Michel; it wasn't his fault. She could understand how having a tea party for a bunch of dolls could confuse the poor man, him not having had much encounter with little girls, but his irritating confusion on top of everything else she had to deal with got the better of him.

"He's getting on your nerves, huh?" Sookie asked, hearing Lorelai's gruff tone. Of course, Sookie having had _much_ experience with Michel's frustrating personality, she hadn't thought anything of it and had simply gone about her way.

"Absolutely," Lorelai answered, releasing a sigh. "God, I'm starving."

"Didn't you have anything to eat at Luke's today?" Sookie asked, not knowing about anything that happened at the wedding. Or the events after.

"Nope, not today…" she sighed again. Boy, how she wished she could have had breakfast at Luke's and talk to him about all of this already. "There's nothing to eat in this fridge." She grumbled.

Glancing over her shoulder, Sookie's face filled with confusion. "What are you talking about? It's stuffed with food." She said, spotting the wide range of vegetables, meats and many other things in the fridge.

"I mean food that's edible. Food to consume." Lorelai expanded. "Everything in here you have to cook."

"I'm a cook…" Sookie sang, smiling at Lorelai's childlike antics. But when all she got in return was a mumbled, "No, forget it," she got worried. Spotting Lorelai's dismal expression and glum demeanour, and factoring in the fact that Lorelai hadn't eaten at Luke's, she asked if something was wrong.

"No, it's just…I had an eventful night last night…" was Lorelai's answer.

"At the wedding?" Sookie clarified. With her eyes downcast, Lorelai confirmed.

"Christopher came…" she trailed off, not sure if she should tell anybody before she spoke to Luke about everything. But she was her best friend.

"Oh, no…" Sookie sympathised.

"My mother invited him." Lorelai filled in.

"Oh!" Sookie exclaimed. "No!"

Figuring that starting with the Luke events of the night first was the easiest way to ease Sookie into the Christopher events. What bad could there come from telling Sookie anyway? In fact, it would probably help for someone to know. If she couldn't tell Luke yet, and she couldn't tell Rory that her father had basically tried to rape her, she had to tell _someone_. And her best friend seemed the perfect person to talk to. She didn't have anybody else she could talk to.

"And I hadn't exactly told Luke about that tequila night with Chris after his dad died, and so I told him and there was a _big_ blow up. Chris went nuts, and Luke went nuts, and he left. And now he says he need time to 'think'." She rushed out in one breath.

"How much time?" Sookie asked, confused.

"He just said 'time'." She stated, her words laced in irritation.

"Ugh, I hate when men say that, it's so vague." Sookie whinged, familiar with Lorelai's frustration. While Sookie was understanding Lorelai's problem, Lorelai was understanding something herself.

"I should have told him when it happened, but…" she blew out a heavy breath and continued. "I blew it. Now if he'd just give me ten minutes, we could hash it out and be back on our way and not waste time." And right then, she knew how she would tell Sookie about Christopher the only way she was most familiar with. Humour.

"But…after the wedding, it…" she paused. Now that she knew _how_ she would tell Sookie, it was going to be hard to confront her reality. If she told Sookie what happened, no matter what movie she related it to, and no matter how funny she tried to make it, telling anyone would make this all the more real for her.

"What, what is it, honey?" Sookie prompted when Lorelai didn't continue.

Lorelai sighed. "Well, um…when Luke left, I had to take a taxi back home, because – well, we drove there together. So, when I went out to the car park, well, um…." She sighed again and blurted out, "Chris, um, followed me there. And, um…well, let's just say, thank god you weren't there or we would have had a real Thelma and Louise situation on our hands." She joked, hoping her friend didn't catch the vulnerable tone in her voice.

Unfortunately, she did.

After several moments of Sookie's eyes boring into Lorelai's own downcast ones, the chef passed over a cup of coffee. Of course, she knew what that reference meant. She couldn't believe it. As much as she wasn't a _huge_ fan of Christopher – after all the times he'd let Lorelai and Rory down, he hardly deserved stardom – but she _never_ would have thought that he'd do _that_ to Lorelai. Sookie was always so sure that Christopher really _did_ love Lorelai. Though she was brought back from her thoughts when she saw her friend's eyes fill with tears.

"Oh, honey…" she breathed. After a few more seconds of staring into the coffee cup that Sookie had just poured for her and that she had barely taken a sip of, Lorelai forced a smile onto her face again and raised her eyes back to her friend's.

"Too bad Jackson doesn't own a gun, huh?" she laughed, but there was no feeling behind it.

Sookie didn't respond, but merely smiled sympathetically. As much as she wanted to talk about how she was feeling, she could sense Lorelai's hesitation, so instead asked softly, "So…does Luke know?"

Lorelai's eyes shot up again, looking for all the world like a deer caught in headlights, and she didn't even need to say anything for Sookie to know the answer. "You didn't tell him." It wasn't a question, but Lorelai answered it anyway. Dropping her eyes back down to the hot liquid that, which normally would have been a comfort and relief, was now only succeeding in reminding her of Luke, Lorelai slowly shook her head, one tear silently tracking its way down her face.

"Aw, honey, why?" Sookie asked sadly.

"Why?" Lorelai responded in exasperation, regaining some of her composure. "Sookie, don't you understand?" Not waiting for an answer, she continued. "You know Luke – you know that if I tell him what happened after he left then he'll just feel sorry for me, and I don't want my boyfriend to feel sorry for me! If he comes back, and forgets this 'time' thing, then I'll never truly know if he came back because he forgave me and actually _wanted_ to be with me, or if it was because he felt sorry for me. Then we'd both have this huge Damocles hovering over us; you know, neither of us wanting to bring it up, but neither of us ever forgetting and I couldn't live with that. I love him Sookie. I can't lose him…" she finished softly.

Sookie's face was one of pure shock, as Lorelai knew it would be. That was the first time Lorelai had actually admitted to _anyone_ that she loved anybody. But when Sookie realised the sincerity of Lorelai's words, her expression softened.

"Okay." She conceded. "I mean, I've always said that you two were perfect for each other, and if you really think this is the only way you'll be able to keep Luke – I mean, you know, the way you want to keep him – then okay, I respect that."

Lorelai nodded, a weak smile gracing her face, knowing that her friend understood where she was coming from.

"But you have to tell him eventually, you know." Sookie added.

Yes, she nodded. She knew that too. "I'm gonna go…take a walk." Lorelai told her, relieved that at least for now, someone knew. Sookie smiled, hoping that she'd helped her friend somewhat, even if it was just making sure that Lorelai had someone to talk to. "Yes, good idea." She agreed. "Clear your head." When Lorelai moved to exit the kitchen, Sookie added, "Oh, and sweetie?" Lorelai turned, facing her friend. "Everything will be okay."

Lorelai half-smiled, turning back around and leaving the kitchen. _I hope so…_ she thought as she grabbed her purse and coat from the front desk and walking back out to the parking lot.

* * *

_So, what did everybody think? Do you think it was a realistic way of how Lorelai's conversations with both Christopher and Sookie would have gone? I'm trying to write it like I can hear them saying it, so I hope it came off that way. Let me know what you think or if there were any improvements I could make._

_Replies to unsigned reviews:_

L/Lshipper: _Thanks so much, hope this update lived up to your expectations, and yes you were right! You got a cookie! __ I'm glad you like how I've merged the two together, and don't worry, you'll see about Luke soon!_


	4. Chapter 4

_A HUGE thankyou to everyone who's reading, and everyone who's reviewing. You guys make my day! Week! Seriously!_

_Well, nothing much to report on my life – plus, really, none of you are here to hear me yap on about bullshit and all that, so here's the story!_

_Oh, and sorry for the bit of a wait – I was having trouble making the speech fit into the flow of my story – hope I did ok! *bites fingernails* Hopefully the length of this chapter makes up for the wait…_

_=D_

_Onward!_

* * *

"Luke, hi. Look, I'm sorry to sneak up on you like this, but please, just give me a minute, we need to talk. I have so much to say…"

After her talk with Sookie, Lorelai had chosen to walk back to the centre of town, intent on keeping her mind occupied. She'd gone to the post office to take care of some work for the Dragonfly, she'd gone to the bank, but after aimlessly going from store to store, Lorelai discovered one thing that she'd never really considered. Even when you're mind is a shambles and you're trying as hard as you can to distract yourself, nearly half of Stars Hollow giving you an awkward thumbs-up and a sympathetic smile cannot go unnoticed.

Shaking her head and trying to ignore the always-eccentric townspeople, Lorelai let her curiosity get the better of her when she heard Gypsy say in passing, "I'm on your side, Lorelai!"

Of course, the last time she had seen anybody in the last 24 hours, except Sookie, Michel or Luke, was the night before the wedding, when Lorelai and Rory had thrown an impromptu bachelorette party for Emily, and so confusion immediately took over at Gypsy's words. On her side for what? What had happened that _anybody_ would have to take her side about _anything_?

Her heart nearly stopped when, upon questioning Gypsy, she had been informed that the whole of the small town that she lives in believed her and Luke were broken up. Did Luke think that? _Did_ Luke think this 'time' thing was actually breaking up? _Oh, God, it's gonna be the whole "we were on a break" Ross and Rachel scenario all over again_, she'd thought worriedly, before, low and behold, the man himself walked down the street and entered Doose's Market right in front of her eyes.

Worry, mixed with courage, overtook her body and she had found herself following Luke into the small store, approaching him and causing him to jump in shock. Lorelai knew he'd asked for some time to think, but she also knew that before things got worse, and Luke himself – if he didn't already – believed that they were broken up, she needed to fix things. She had to make things right; to explain herself. But, if he wasn't going to _let_ her explain herself, she'd have to _make_ him listen. She breathed deeply before admitting,

"I should have told you about that night with Christopher, I know that now."

"Yeah, okay, I–" Luke started, but was quickly cut off by Lorelai when she saw him begin to use the darty-eyes and the 'I can't do this now' tone in his voice. Although she felt the need to beg him for forgiveness, to beg him to listen to her explanations, she also felt the slight need to defend her actions – he couldn't go on believing that something actually happened with Christopher when his dad died. He had to know that she'd _never_ do that to him. And Lorelai _had_ been trying to avoid Luke getting jealous and irrational when she hadn't told him, she wasn't purposefully trying to lie to him just for the sake of lying to him.

"But, I swear, the visit we had was so innocent – it was about his _dad_! And nothing happened. Less than nothing happened." Lorelai stressed. _Please Luke_, she thought, _please believe me…_

But Luke being Luke, was not one to back down when he had his own point to make. And so, avoiding her gaze as much as he could, for fear that he would do something he regretted when the anger took over, he simply answered in his usual monosyllabic way, "But you hid it."

His tone was so definite; like that point alone was the reason he wasn't talking to her. But she knew there was more than that. Chris had hurt him. Her _mother_ had hurt him. And yes, she herself had hurt him. And so, biting down the 'Hey there, Captain Obvious' response that would usually come tumbling out at this point in a conversation, Lorelai rushed into a hurried explanation, apology, and shocked statement in one fell swoop.

"I know, and I shouldn't have, and I'm _so_ sorry. But all that stuff from Christopher, at the wedding, I didn't see that coming." She carefully glossed over the part that had occurred after Luke had left – she would tell him later. When they had all this sorted out first. "He was drunk, he was _stupid,_" When she felt her own anger surfacing, she had to make herself calm down, for she knew that if she began to get angry at Chris, Luke would simply take it as her being angry at him. And that was the last thing she needed him to think. So, releasing a calming sigh, she continued. "He's never _not_ stupid, but…I didn't see it coming." She finished. She wasn't exactly sure what telling him that she didn't know Christopher would say those things would do, but she waited for his reply.

Avoiding her gaze again, but glancing briefly at her, Luke told her simply, "You should have."

Holding back the scoff that threatened to spill at his words – how the hell could anybody have expected that? – Lorelai sighed. "Yeah, well…sometimes even people you think you know really well can surprise you…" And now it was her turn to avoid his gaze, suddenly finding her shoes immensely interesting and trying to hold back tears. When their own relationship was in jeopardy, she didn't want to start crying in front of him because of another man.

Luke picked up on the suddenly altered tone of the woman before him and finally looked at her. While her gaze was elsewhere, he felt confident that he could look at her without letting his feelings spill out. As soon as he looked into those piercing blue orbs, he would be lost. Why was she suddenly running in here demanding to talk? _She said she'd give me time to think_, Luke thought bitterly, thinking that once again, she had lied to him. But before his anger boiled, something caught his eye.

Unable to contain his Luke-ness, he asked gruffly, "What happened to your eye?"

Lorelai winced, looking up at him with wide blue eyes. She hadn't re-checked her makeup since she'd been at the inn. She must have rubbed some off at some point, exposing the nasty graze beside her eye. Luckily, he hadn't seen any bruise. But even so, he'd seen the cut, and now she had two options. Either she could tell him now, and see what happened, or she'd have to weasel her way out of an explanation. But she couldn't decide what to do on the spur of the moment, and so instead sputtered, "Uh, I, uh…" unintelligently, before quickly spitting out, "Nothing." She didn't _want_ to lie to him, but he'd have to wait just a little bit longer.

Of course, Luke didn't know this. And so he scoffed loudly, rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up in disbelief. "And ladies and gentlemen, there she goes! Hiding things from me _again_!" he exclaimed loudly, causing the very few pairs of eyes that weren't already glued on the quarrelling pair to swivel towards them.

Noticing this, and wanting to diffuse the tense atmosphere that had surrounded them as quickly as possible, Lorelai spoke softly, yet firmly, stating, "No, Luke, it's not like that. I just–"

But Luke didn't want to hear any half-arsed excuse of why she was lying to him again, and so cut her off, just as she had done to him not even five minutes earlier. But his interruption was by no means as apologetic as hers, but slightly more…_accusatory_. In fact, it was _very_ accusatory. "Oh?" he asked, with mock surprise. "Then what _is_ it like, huh? I mean, you spend the night with Christopher and don't tell me about it –"

Lorelai jumped in quickly with defence. "I _told_ you, nothing happened!" But Luke was in full ranting mode and continued on unfazed, as if she had never even spoken. In any other situation, a person may have marvelled at anyone's ability to block out the incredibly loud and chatty Lorelai Gilmore.

"And now," Luke continued angrily, "something's happened to you and it clearly _is_ a big deal," he noted, but in the heat of the argument, didn't even register his own words. "And once again, you won't tell me what happened. Hmm," he pondered sarcastically, "seems pretty damn similar to me!"

"No, Luke, I just –" she huffed out a frustrated breath, angry at her inability to put coherent sentenced together. "I just can't tell you right now, okay? Please!" she begged, silently urging him with her eyes to just leave it at that and get back to the matter at hand.

Unfortunately, he was still avoiding her gaze as much as he could, so he merely asked in frustrated confusion, "You can't tell me right now? What the hell does that mean?"

"N-nothing…" she stuttered, realising what she'd just said to him, and what it had implied. "That doesn't matter. Please, I'll tell you later, I just can't right now." She told him. It was the truth, too. She knew she had to tell him, she knew she needed him right now to comfort her for what had happened, but the only way that could happen was to bring up what Christopher had _said _at the wedding first. "We need to talk about what happened last night. _I_ need to talk to you about what happened last night." She admitted quietly.

"What's there to talk about?" Luke snapped. He hadn't wanted to get angry at her in front of Taylor Doose of all people, but now he wasn't sure if he could stop it. _This_ was why he'd asked for time to think. "You want to be with Christopher, right? Well, that's what he said," he answered for himself. "I mean, that's the only reason you're with me, right? You're both just passin' the time until you can be together?" Somewhere in his anger-filled mind, he knew that wasn't true. He'd seen the way she'd looked at him for years, although she'd tried to deny her feeling over and over again, but he couldn't stop his thoughts from going to the place it was now.

Lorelai gasped aloud, taken back by his words and his definite tone. _How could he think that?_ "No, Luke! How could you think that?" she repeated out loud, looking at him with still-wide eyes. "Don't listen to Christopher, listen to me! I want to be with you. _You_!" she assured him, with such certainly in her voice that it would have reflected her true feelings, had he been fully aware of them. Though her assurance did nothing to him, she could see that by his unchanged expression, she continued, revealing to him the decision she had made the second that Gypsy informed her of their supposed 'break-up'. "And I swear," she began, "if he's going to come between us, I am _never_ seeing him again."

Luke's expression was one of irritated disbelief. "What are you talking about? He's Rory's father, he'll always be in your life."

"In _her_ life." Lorelai declared with unquestionable confidence.

But Luke responded with, "Her life _is_ your life." And he knew it to be true. If there was one thing he was certain of in this whole thing was that Lorelai and Rory did virtually nothing without each other. If Christopher wanted to come to one of Rory's birthday parties – although for Luke, that would symbolise the end of the world as he knew it, for all the things Chris had _ever_ shown up at for his daughter – Luke knew there was no way that would stop Lorelai from spending her daughter's birthday with her. How could she not see that?

However, Lorelai was determined to convince Luke. In her mind, if she wanted to cut someone out of her life, it was simple: you just do it. And so she told Luke that when it came to their relationship, it was completely different.

A possible hindrance for their relationship, or perhaps it was why they worked so well usually, there was one fact that was undeniable about Luke and Lorelai: they were both as damn stubborn as each other. And so, this was why, no matter how much Lorelai tried to convince him that Christopher would be out of their lives for good now, Luke answered with,

"This is gonna happen again and again."

_This wasn't how this was supposed to go_, Lorelai thought as the tears sprung to her eyes. Although, she realised, this had been a totally spontaneous encounter, her body having more control than her mind, and so…how had she _expected_ this to go? He wasn't believing her. If he knew the rest of the reason that Christopher would be out of their lives for good, he would believe her. But if she couldn't get him to believe her about this, then how could she tell him about the parking lot? In her mind, it was almost as if, if she couldn't fix the wedding part of their argument, she couldn't even bring up the parking lot part of her night. And she needed him. He was _Luke_! He'd always been there for her and Rory, and she needed him more than anything right now. So she continued to attempt to convince him.

"No, Luke, I swear–" she threw her head slightly back as if in silent prayer and continued. "God, if you care anything for me at all, just please, trust me on this."

With those words, Luke reached boiling point. _Trust_ her? After she's lied to him _twice_? _And how do I know it's only been twice?_ He thought suddenly, realising she may have lied about the lunch with Christopher too. He couldn't even look at her now, at all. So he tried to leave. "I have to go."

He saw Lorelai's eyes widen in fear out of the corner of his. "No, Luke, please." She cried, going after him as he made to leave the store.

But he merely answered with, "I can't have this out here." He had become acutely aware of every single pair of eyes in there being fixed on him and his girlfriend arguing in public.

Lorelai seemed to be oblivious to them though. Or she simply ignored them. Because she worriedly asked, "Okay, well, where? When?" as if the matter of where they were was all that was keeping him from talking right at that moment. So he shot in with, "I need time, I told you that." And he had. He _had_ asked for time. And she'd agreed to give it to him.

When she heard that, Lorelai almost pounced in front of him, preventing him from leaving Doose's. She hadn't forgotten his 'time'. She just wished that he had. "Luke, you're scaring me with this 'more time' stuff, I need to talk to you." She admitted fretfully, keeping him pinned to the spot with her anxious eyes. "And the town is dividing us up, I need _that_ to stop." She urged, thinking back to the ribbons that Gypsy had told her of. _Damn Taylor_, she thought angrily, waiting for Luke's reply.

But Luke wasn't really listening. This wasn't how _he_ had wanted this to go, either. He wanted to be able to calm down, to be able to talk about it like adults, without shouting or crying. This had been the opposite of that. He'd seen Lorelai fighting to keep tears of fear in, and he had been fighting the entire time to keep his anger under check. And he could feel it surfacing. So he said as quietly as he could, of course, still avoiding eye contact, "Don't…"

Lorelai didn't hear the desperateness in his voice, she didn't see his jaw muscles flexing as he ground his jaw together, but she saw his need to escape. But she couldn't let him leave without him knowing one thing. "Luke – I'm in. I'm _all_ in." she began, echoing his own words from their very first date at Sniffy's. "Let me show you what a great girlfriend I can be, but I can't wait. _We_ can't wait. I need to know what you're thinking right now."

Without missing a beat, Luke snapped. "Okay." He barked, shocking her into silence. "You wanna know what I'm thinking right now? That I can't be in this relationship, it's too much." And with that, he was gone.

She was left in silence, watching his retreating back stomping down the street. _Oh, god…_she thought with dread. This time, she'd done it. She'd pushed him too far. And now he was gone.

------------ X ------------ X ------------ X ------------ X ------------ X ------------ X ------------ X ------------

Lorelai had been sent into a state of shock, unable to acknowledge anything or anyone around her. If she had been in a state to, she could have counted on her hands the number of people that greeted her with a 'good morning' and a friendly smile. But she had just walked past them, not even being able to register that any words had left their mouths at all. The only thought that was going through her mind was a repetition of Luke's words: _"I can't be in this relationship." _The words played themselves over and over again in her mind until they were close to driving her crazy.

"_I can't be in this relationship, I can't be in this relationship, I can't be in this relationship."_

The words were a never-ending circle in her mind, a now-constant reminder of the fact that Luke had officially broken up with her. Now it was no longer a speculation around Stars Hollow. It was a fact. A fact that _she_ had caused, by not letting him have his 'time'. Lorelai could hear his anger pouring through those words, and eventually, it became too much and she collapsed on her bed, tears streaming down her face. She was completely unaware of any actual entrance into her house, or any awareness of how long she had been crying for, but she found herself in a strange sort of comfortable relief in the warmth of her bed. Even if that was where her and Luke had spent so many nights together.

She couldn't believe it. Not ten minutes ago, she had pushed him. She had pushed him too hard and now he was gone. As that thought re-entered her head, a loud sob escaped into the empty house, filling the silence. She broke down, completely letting everything else slip from her mind except for Luke's words and her now aching heart. She cried herself to sleep for the second time in the last two days.

* * *

_So, yes, again this was mainly just altered speech from the actual episode, but I couldn't get on with the events of the story without having this crucial scene, could I? But what did you think? I know it wasn't HUGELY long, but I cut it down a bit because it was going to be too long. So, don't worry, the next chapter already has quite a bit written and shouldn't be too long until the next update. Hope you guys are still liking it!_

_Oh, and if any of you are getting confused with the timeline of this story, I'll give you a bit of a summary so far._

**Day One:**___Wedding. Christopher's car park escapades. Taxi ride and talk with Luke. Fight with Christopher on phone._

**Day Two: **_Telling Sookie. Supermarket talk with Luke. Begins wallowing._

_And that brings us up to date. I'll keep a running summary as each chapter goes, if you find it easier to keep track of what's happened, and how many days it's been. What do you guys think?_

_Anyway, replies to unsigned reviews:_

L/Lshipper: _Thanks heaps, hon. I'm soo glad my characters seem right – I'd like to think I'm good at it, but you never know until you get feedback, do you? Hope you're still enjoying now that you've read Chapter 4. Don't worry, there'll be more Luke to come!_

ah. : _Naww, thanks for reading __ Oh, and I dooo like cherries, and sprinkles, so I guess I'll continue it now :P hehe, hope you're enjoying!_

Squishy: _AWW thanks, hun! I'm glad I made you hate him, it was my master plan mwaahhaahaaa! Nah, just joking, but I'm glad you're liking it :) – do you still like chapter 4? Chapter 5 will be along very shortly so have no fear! Love ya, chook! xo_


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey, guys :) _

_Thanks a lot to everyone who's reading, and reviewing, and adding my story to their alerts. You guys rock!_

_I've forgotten what day I updated the last chapter, but I hope it hasn't been too long. If it has, sorry! But hopefully this chapter will make it up to you._

_Here it is! _

* * *

"_Hey, Luke, it's me." She laughed nervously, her voice filling the empty room. "I know I'm not supposed to be calling, but," she sniffled, trying in vain to hide the fact that she had been crying, "I am not doing really great right now, and, I was just wondering if – Do you remember in The Way We Were, how Katie and Hubbell broke up, because his friends were joking and laughing, and the president had just died, and she yelled at them and he was mad, and he was going out to Hollywood, and – I mean, which she hated," she rambled, referencing the only movie she could think of that resembled her current situation. "And, he broke up with her, and she was really," she sighed, the tears she was keeping at bay threatening to pour out again, "upset, and she called him and asked him if he would come over and sit with her, because, he was her best friend, and she needed her….best friend, and he did. And…and…" she stuttered, a small tear tracking its way down her face. "They talked all night," she continued, trying to regain her courage. "And they went out to Hollywood, which was a disaster, but it was good at first, with the…boat…and, uh, and the putting the books away…" she laughed nervously again. "I've seen this movie a _lot_, so if you don't remember the putting the books away scene, don't feel stupid or anything, I was just sitting here thinking about, because, I'm in my house," she rambled again, getting more and more upset as her resolve to be strong began to fade. "And, I was just, uh…" she flailed, trying desperately to put her thoughts into words. "C- Please come over…please…" she cried, her voice portraying her current mood. "Really need to see you, and, and talk to you, and…Please…come over…Please…Come-…" she finished brokenly._

Luke tore out of the bathroom at lightning speed, blinking stupidly at the answering machine. He pressed the green button, hearing her broken voice playing back to him again, and it pained him. He had never heard her sound so crushed, so upset, before. Not even when she had come crying into his diner two years ago, confessing that Christopher had left her because his girlfriend was pregnant. At the thought of Christopher, Luke's anger began to surface again, but then Lorelai's broken message played through his ears and he heard her finish, her voice choked with emotion as he was sure she had begun crying._ Oh, God, _Luke thought, hating that he was the reason that she was feeling like this. As mad as he was, he was _Luke_…and Luke always cared and worried about a friend. As she had just said herself, she was his _best_ friend. He tore out of his apartment as fast as his legs would carry him, running in the immediate direction of Lorelai's house.

"Lorelai!" he yelled frantically, banging on the front door of the Crap Shack. "Lorelai, come on, let me in, I know you're in there!" he continued to yell, spying her car still parked in her driveway. When all he got was silence in return, he got worried. And confused. Why would she call him asking him to come over if she was just going to sit and listen to him knocking on the door and just ignore him? "Lorelai!" he tried again, looking up at the dimly lit bedroom above his head. Again, he received no answer, so he scooted around the side of the house and tried to back door. _Locked_, he mused. Lorelai very rarely locked her doors – a fact that had him very concerned late at night – but right now was not the best time to lock it. When his attempts at getting her to answer the door once again failed, he used all of his manly-man-Luke strength and broke the lock, sending small fragments flying across the kitchen floor.

"Doesn't matter…" he muttered to himself, before tearing through the kitchen and up the stairs, entering Lorelai's bedroom with a scattered bump into the door and a breathless, "Lorelai!"

He stopped dead in his tracks. Her bedding was unmade, the phone that she had very recently used to call him on was lying forgotten in the mess of popcorn, chocolate, Mallomars and Red Vines, and the television was sending out a faint glow on the room, giving it an almost ominous look. But there was one thing missing from the picture. Lorelai. She was nowhere to be seen. Luke's heart leapt into his throat at the sight. There were tissues strewn all over the floor, making it clear that she had been crying long before she called him.

"Where are you?" he whispered into the emptiness, hoping with everything he had that she wasn't in trouble. In danger. That something terrible hadn't happened to her in her obviously weakened state. He turned and ran down the stairs, about to run out of the house in search of her when something stopped him. The ringing of the telephone. He spun on his heel, about to snatch up the receiver, hoping it was Lorelai simply telling him that she couldn't be around him after all, but there was no phone there. It was still up in her bedroom. So he waited for a few seconds until it clicked over the voicemail, expecting Lorelai's voice to fill the room, but instead, somebody else's did. Somebody's voice that made Luke see red.

"Lorelai…" the voice began quietly, obviously hesitant about what they were going to say. "It's Chris….Look, I just…" he paused, breathing heavily into the speaker. "I'm sorry, okay? I don't know what I was thinking, I just…" he sighed. "I'm not gonna say I was drunk again, coz you know that. I'm not going to try to make excuses, I just…I didn't mean to do that, I'm sorry…"

Luke frowned at the answering machine. _Yeah, you didn't mean to do that, my ass_, he thought angrily, thinking his mind automatically going to the drunken words that Christopher had yelled at the wedding.

"You know I'd never do anything like that to you on purpose, don't you?" Christopher continued, his voice shaking with regret and worry. "I mean, I know what I said to you and him at the hall was bad, okay? I know I stepped a line with that alone, but the, uh…" he floundered, not wanting to say the actual words. "The _after_ part," he settled for instead, "I _never_ meant to hurt you, okay? Just…I just needed you to know that…" he sighed again, before the dial tone played through to Luke's ears, signalling the end of the call.

For a few seconds, Luke stood still, too stunned to move. Several thoughts ran through his mind. A few very significant ones. Like, _what the hell kind of balls does this guy have to call here after what he said?_ And, _what did he mean he wasn't going to say he was drunk 'again'? Did Lorelai already speak to him? Did he call her or did she call him? _But the most prevalent thought of them all was, _what did he mean by 'the after part'? What the hell does that mean?_ _What happened after I left the hall?_

Just as these thoughts were running through his mind and several different situations presented themselves to his imagination, Luke heard slow, heavy steps along the porch, and the sound of a key in the lock. Backing slowly into the darkness of the kitchen so as not to startle her, looking like a comical Homer Simpson rerun, Luke watched as Lorelai entered the living room and did a slow scan of the living room. She looked like a complete wreck. Her hair was bunched up in a messy bun-like up-do, her cheeks were stained from tears he was sure she had shed, and she was gripping something between her fingers, her hands shaking slightly.

Luke's heart almost broke at the sight of her. As much as what Christopher had said had scared and hurt him, and even though she had lied to him, he hated the fact that he had never seen her look worse. And he felt responsible. He was Luke, how could he not? She had always been the strong one of the two of them, never letting anything faze her, but now…she looked broken. Resisting the urge to rush over and pull her into a tight, comforting hug, Luke stood by quietly, waiting to see if she noticed she had a message on her answering machine. She walked over to the small end table and saw the blinking green light. Sighing heavily, she looked down at the object she held tightly in her hands, before dropping it onto the table in disgust. Hesitating only slightly, knowing there was a good possibility that it was Luke that had called, Lorelai pressed the button and Christopher's voice filled the room.

Lorelai stood frozen, listening to Christopher's attempts to once again mumble an apology to her. Upon hearing him utter, "I never meant to hurt you" before hanging up, Lorelai pressed the delete button, erasing the message. She lifted her eyes, moving her hair from her cheek to catch a glimpse in the mirror of the covered bruise her had given her. A token of his 'friendship'.

Lorelai sighed, saying softly, "Yeah, you never meant to hurt me, huh? What the hell do you call this?"

Turning to head upstairs for some much needed rest, Lorelai heard a noise coming from within the dark shadows of the kitchen. She froze. As much as the voice in her head tried to convince her she was crazy, there was a teeny tiny part of her that thought it could be Christopher hiding in her kitchen, waiting to grab a chance at talking to her. There was no way she could handle seeing Christopher. Not now. Probably not ever.

Backing away slowly from the mystery that was the kitchen, Lorelai tried to still her frantic heart. Suddenly, Luke emerged from the darkness, a harsh pensive frown still planted firmly on his face. Lorelai very nearly jumped from the visual of him slowly appearing in the shadows and her hand quickly flew to her chest, a sharp gasp escaping her mouth. There was a brief flicker of relief when it was revealed that it was, in fact, not Christopher lurking in her kitchen, but this was soon replaced by fear. It was Luke in her kitchen. It was _Luke_. What was he doing there? Surely he hadn't heard her embarrassing message, Lorelai thought desperately.

"Luke?!" Lorelai questioned, shock clearly evident in her voice.

But he ignored her shocked and worried expression, and he ignored her unspoken question, and simply answered with one of his own.

"What did he do?"

The words were spoken gruffly, in true Luke fashion, but his voice was calm, so as to make it clear that there was no doubt that he _knew_ something had happened. That he wasn't just guessing. Lorelai stood still, blinking repeatedly, hoping desperately that this was all just a bad dream. That Luke was not standing in front of her demanding to know what Christopher had done to her. Her heart was beating so fast as she thought hard, frantically trying to think of some excuse she could make so that he wouldn't keep asking. She had been so keen to settle Luke's 'time' issue so that they could not only get back on their way and not lose time, but that she could finally tell him what happened and have him help her through it. He was Luke, and Luke had always been there to help her through the hard times. When her daughter was sick, he was there. When she wanted to open her own inn, he was there. When she was having money problems trying to _open_ that inn, he was there. But now that he was here for this horrible point in her life, she couldn't bring herself to talk to him about it. She had lost her nerve. So instead of answering his question, she took a deep breath and sputtered out, "What are you doing here?"

Under normal circumstances, now would have been the time when Luke would have rolled his eyes and uttered a sarcastic, "Oh, I don't know, some crazy woman asked me over, maybe…" But he knew that she was just avoiding his question. This time, he wouldn't let her keep things from him. So he asked again.

"What did he do?"

His voice was harsher this time. He was rapidly losing his patience. And not just because of the tense atmosphere forcing its way between him and Lorelai, but because he was becoming worried about what Christopher meant in his message. And Lorelai noticed the changed tone of his voice. She didn't want to get in a fight with him. Not right now. Not about this. So she avoided the question again. She tried to play dumb.

"Wh-What are you talking about?" she asked, trying to paste a confused look to her tear-stained features. But he didn't buy it. Of course he wouldn't. He'd heard Christopher's message just as clearly as she had. _Something_ had happened, he was sure of that.

"You know what I'm talking about." He said patiently, giving her the patented Luke Danes 'don't try to bullshit me' look before repeating, "What did he do?"

His gaze was so piercing, so intense, that she couldn't bear to hold eye contact any longer, so, just as she had in the market, she suddenly found her shoe far more interesting than ever before. "Nothing…" she lied, but her voice betrayed her.

"Lorelai." He pressed, but received no answer. She stood still, blinking furiously, staring at the floor. "Look at me." He requested quietly, eyeing her obviously delicate state of emotions. Hearing his voice soften, she allowed herself to spare a glance at him. Spotting his own concerned expression, she raised her head, looking up at him shyly. When he saw her sad, scared eyes, his heart skipped a beat. He couldn't stand to have such a tension forced between them, just a nervousness and quietness in her character. That wasn't the Lorelai he knew. He needed to know what had caused her to change so quickly, and why she wouldn't answer him. He decided the only thing he could do to get her to fess up was to make her deny something else. Then maybe she'd tell him what _actually_ happened.

"Did he hit you?" he asked, pointing a finger at the abrasion near her eye. His voice was tinged with anger. Not anger necessarily at Lorelai, but anger at Christopher. Anger at Christopher, and anger at the current situation that they found themselves in.

He stood, waiting for her shocked denial of his accusation. But none came. Instead, he saw Lorelai's eyes quickly drop, instantly avoiding his fierce gaze and his heart nearly skipped. He thought that he had thrown out such an insane accusation that it couldn't possibly be plausible, that it would simply cause her to explain. But she hadn't denied it. Christopher had hit her. Christopher had _hit _her. She hadn't said anything, but he knew. She hadn't denied it. She hadn't even scoffed at the words. She had shown no reaction other than avoidance. And the absence of a reaction was even worse than any mumbled affirmation she could have provided. Luke's mind began to race. There were so many thoughts and questions running through his head that he had to try as hard as he could to voice any sort of fathomable sentence.

"When did he, uh…" he began, just to stop and start again. "When did…" he tried again. But he couldn't bring himself to say the words. He could barely even _believe _it had actually happened. Why had he left in such a huff? He hadn't even stayed to make sure that she could get home safely. They'd driven to the wedding together, why hadn't he thought of that when he left? He hadn't stayed, and now look what had happened. _When _had it happened? His mind was racing with all these questions, but he still couldn't say the words, so he settled on, "When?"

Taking a shaky breath, Lorelai realised he wasn't going to give up easily. Even if she didn't answer any of his questions, he would keep asking others. So she reluctantly admitted, all the while avoiding eye contact, "He, uh…He followed me out to the parking lot when I was leaving…"

Luke frowned. _He followed her out to the parking lot and that resulted in him hitting her?_ He thought with confusion. He stared at her hard for a beat, knowing there was something she wasn't telling him. As much as it hurt him to think about her in pain, and as much as it hurt him to say the words, he spat out, "And he just walked up and hit you?"

The harsh nature of his words and the memories of reality came together to a force that caused Lorelai to flinch. Despite her previous stance to be determined with strength, she couldn't lie anymore. She was tired, _so_ tired, and she couldn't hold up much longer. She whispered, "No…"

Hearing her reluctance to answer, her hesitation and the much more vulnerable note her voice had taken caused Luke's mind to immediately jump to conclusions again. His head snapped up quickly, trying desperately to meet her still lowered eyes. Christopher _had_ been pretty drunk.

"He didn't, uh…? He didn't…." He couldn't say the words again, but she caught his meaning regardless.

"No." she responded quickly, finally looking up to meet his gaze.

The relief that Luke felt from her assurance was indescribable, and he released a silent, relieved breath. But he had to make sure.

"No?"

"No, I, uh…" Lorelai started, dropping her eyes to the floor once again. "I got away before anything else happened." She blurted. And then she winced. She realised just what she had implied. _Oh, god,_ she thought, _talk about Foot in Mouth Disease. _There was a small silence that followed Lorelai's words. For several short moments, nothing was said by either Luke or Lorelai; their deep, hollow breaths were the only sound in Lorelai's messy living room. Lorelai could feel Luke's eyes boring into the top of her head, and she wouldn't dare look up at him. Finally, he spoke.

"You got away?"

"Luke…" she tried, her mind suddenly jumping back to the mindset of the usual Lorelai Gilmore – out of sight, out of mind. Don't talk about it, deal with it yourself. But Luke was still the usual Luke Danes. He hadn't changed. And so, naturally, he wouldn't be deterred by just a few words.

"You got away." He repeated, his eyes still fixed steadily on her, unwavering. The intensity of his stare was so strong that it could have been enough to break even the most stubborn of people. As soon as his eyes met theirs, they would cave at once. Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "You got away, meaning you didn't just say 'See ya later' and walk away?"

"The uh, the taxi came…" she said weakly, avoiding his question as much as she could. She knew what he was getting at. She knew that he _knew_ what she wasn't telling him. She also knew that he wanted to hear it from _her_.

"That didn't answer my question."

She sighed, dropping her voice to a whisper, her eyes still watching the ground. "No, I couldn't just walk away…" she admitted.

Now was Luke's time to whisper. In a slow, quiet tone, Luke repeated her words again. "Couldn't?"

Suddenly, it all became too much. Luke's persistence, combined with her already fragile state, was too much. Tears surfaced, and Lorelai looked up at Luke with a heartbreaking expression, and tried one last time to cease discussion of one of the hardest moments in Lorelai's life. "Luke, stop."

But he didn't. He had entered a sort of trance, where only certain words and phrases were recognised. His gaze had wavered suddenly, staring out through the darkened windows of Lorelai's house, seeming to follow the road out into the main streets of Stars Hollow.

"You couldn't." Was all he said.

Lorelai noticed the change in him, and grew worried. What was he thinking? He hadn't more than uttered a few words since she alluded to what Christopher had done to her in the parking lot after her parents' wedding. "Luke?" she asked cautiously, eyeing his far-away expression. He didn't answer her, but instead stood quietly, his jaw flexing and his eyes darting around in their sockets, clearly mulling over her words and his own now frenzied thoughts. Then suddenly, his thoughts must have become clear. Snapping back into reality, his eyes darting back to Lorelai, he snarled, in a low growl, resounding from deep within his throat, "I can't believe this!"

His harsh, angry words caused Lorelai to jump in fear. Hastily pivoting on his toes, Luke stormed away from the startled woman before him, his heavy feet on the floorboards causing her to wince with every step. Her eyes following his now-retreating back, the only thing that Lorelai could register in her clouded mind was the heavy slamming of the front door and Luke's footsteps pounding down her porch.

* * *

_So there it is! Luke found out! But where's he gone? Is he angry at Lorelai? Is he angry at Chris? Has he decided once again that it's all too much for him? What's going to happen in the next chapter? What's Lorelai going to do now? Dun, dun, duunnn!!!! Let me know what you think!_

_Okay, so here's the running timeline for you:_

**Day One:**___Wedding. Christopher's car park escapades. Taxi ride and talk with Luke. Fight with Christopher on phone._

**Day Two: **_Telling Sookie. Supermarket talk with Luke. Begins wallowing._

**Day Three: **_Sookie finds Lorelai wallowing. Rory comes to help. Lorelai leaves Luke phone message. Luke finds out what happened and leaves._

_Replies to unsigned reviews:_

L/Lshipper: _Thankyou so much! I'm glad you think I've captured Luke's character, and I'm glad that I have a loyal reader, who doesn't actually get alert emails! It's great that you're still liking it and reading, so thanks :) Let me know of any suggestions you have for the story._


	6. Chapter 6

_Okay, how long has this been coming? Commence with the tar and feathers! I'll take it all...but here it is! The long lost continuation of Misunderstandings and Terrible Consequences...and I promise, it WILL be finished! I've finally got some of my muse back...might take a while, but I didn't lie, I won't leave it unfinished!_

_Well, read on..._

* * *

The soft click of the front door was all to be heard in the usually lively, cluttered house. This time, when Luke entered the house and nothing but silence greeted him, he froze. With the drive home, he had calmed down considerably – well, enough so that he now realised how he had left things with Lorelai. He hadn't seen if she was okay, he hadn't stayed to talk to her, and once again he'd let his anger make him tunnel-visioned. Last time, Chris had happened. Where was she this time?

He moved quickly to the kitchen, and when he found that it was bereft of life, he'd done the same to Rory's room. Not there either. Rushing back into the living room, Luke stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He had been about to rush up and check Lorelai's bedroom, just like he had earlier that night, but then he heard soft sniffles and sobs travelling down the stairs to his ears. He sighed heavily when he heard that sound, rubbing his forehead in a try at relaxation. Yes, she was there, but he had only achieved hurting her even more. He hated to hear her like that. Hurt, in pain, even simply upset – he hated it. He didn't want her to hurt any more than she already was, and so he knew he'd have to try to be objective. If he let his own anger and pain get in the way, they'd never be able to talk properly. While trying to compose himself, he suddenly remembered something.

He took a few steps towards the end table, his eyes searching for the object she had dropped earlier. Spotting the usual photographs, pieces of paper, flowers and pens that scattered the table, he looked for something out of place. And there it was. A tape. But…what was it for? Just another question rolling around the inside of his head.

Grasping the tape in his hand, Luke slowly turned and started climbing the stairs. Quietly making his way to the bedroom, Luke stopped in the doorway, his heart breaking slightly at the sight of Lorelai before him. Her back to the door, Lorelai's small form shook from the deep sobs pouring forth, lying on the bed in the darkness of her bedroom.

Taking a tentative step forward, Luke hesitated, unsure how to approach the sobbing woman. He's never dealt with Lorelai like this. Sure, he's seen her have her little 'meltdown in the park', but she'd settled fairly quickly, assuring him she was fine – and the next day she had been. But now…it had been three days since this ordeal started, and she was still crying. _Crying_. God, he hated this. He _hated_ seeing her hurting.

Slowly advancing to the bed, he quietly said, "Hey…" being careful not to startle her.

But he did. Whipping her head around as quickly as humanly possible, Lorelai stared at him wide-eyed, frantically wiping at her mascara-stained cheeks, making it obvious that she hadn't expected him to return. Ignoring the sudden pang he felt when he realised just _how_ badly he'd left things with her, Luke knelt down beside the bed and looked at her sadly.

"I thought you'd left…" Lorelai whispered, her surprise and relief pouring through her words. And Luke caught the double-meaning behind them.

Shaking his head, Luke said firmly, "I'm not going anywhere, Lorelai. Not anymore."

He'd realised something important when he'd been looking for her in the house. Just before he'd heard Christopher's voice. He cared too much about Lorelai to let Christopher's stupid words and Emily's snobbish actions come between them being together; if he could make it right, he would. He had to try. They could work through things together. He would help her deal with what Christopher had done. All of these thoughts were reinforced by the beautiful eyes that stared back at him - no matter how much they were laced with tears. He tried to think of how to tell her…of how they could work it out.

But he was jarred from his thoughts when a deep scoff sounded from Lorelai's direction. Intrigued by her sudden change in attitude, Luke questioned her, confusion clearly evident in his creased brow.

"Nothing…" she muttered, switching her gaze to the ceiling above her head.

"I mean it Lorelai." He said, his voice clear and strong. "I'm not going anywhere now."

Moving to get up, Lorelai cut him off before he could say anything else, wanting to keep this conversation as short as she could. If he was feeling sorry for her, like she knew he would, then she needed to let him know he didn't have to stay. He'd already make up his mind, so who was she to change it with a silly sob story?

"No, of course you're not…" she muttered, moving away. "Look, don't worry about it, okay? I'm fine, you don't have to stay." She said firmly, starting to clean up her messy bedroom and the clothes strewn everywhere. "I mean, it's late. I'm sure you have to lock up the diner, right? I mean, you came right over here, so the diner has to be unlocked, right? That's not safe. You're always telling me to lock my door, so you should go lock yours, you know? And you've probably got early deliveries in the morning, so you should get to bed and get some sleep before you have to get up. I don't want to keep you, you know? Don't feel like you have to stay, because you don't _have_ to worry about it…" she ranted, moving around quickly, avoiding looking directly at the man standing in front of her questioningly. If he wanted a way out, this was his chance.

But when she heard no movement behind her, Lorelai continued. "Luke– " but her next diatribe was cut short by a firm but gentle hand on her arm as Luke moved towards her, rather than away.

"Lorelai, stop." He slowly moved forwards, running his hands up and down her arms, trying desperately to calm her down. Something had her spooked, and he needed to find out what it was. "You know I'll always worry about you. You know I'll always care…" he started, relieved when she didn't try to shrug his hands off, and that his actions seemed to be doing something to calm her down from the frenzy she had worked herself into. "I hate seeing you like this. I hate what he did to you…" he whispered, beginning to embrace her.

But at his words, she tensed. She had been giving into Luke's actions and the soft tone of his voice. But at the mention of Christopher and what had happened, she stopped. She remembered what she promised herself: that she couldn't just let Luke feel sorry for her. It would only end in him resenting her if that's the reason he stayed. And if that was the only reason he was staying, then she didn't want him there at all.

"No…" she whispered, barely loud enough for Luke to hear.

Confused by her sudden change in demeanour and attitude, Luke sputtered, "Wha- Lorelai, what? No, I'm not leaving. You called me for a reason. I'm _not _leaving."

"Goddamn it, Luke!" she exploded, pushing his hands away. "Why do you have to make this so hard? Just leave, okay? Stop feeling sorry for me! I don't want to think about what Christopher did! I don't care about Christopher! I don't care about that, I care about _you_!"

And then he understood.

"Lorelai, look at me." He said quietly, waiting for her to meet his eye. When she did, he continued. "I am _not_ here because I feel _sorry_ for you. I came here because you called me, asking for your best friend. You're _my_ best friend, _that's_ why I came here. But when I found out what happened," Lorelai's eyes strayed from his piercing gaze, causing him to jump in with, "no, look at me." When she finally met his gaze again, she waited for him to continue. "When I found out what happened, I _hated_ that it happened to you. I hate seeing you in _any_ type of pain, and to know that it happened after I left and that I couldn't protect you – I hate it. But never for a second did I simply feel sorry for you. I'm sorry that it happened to you, and I'm sorry like hell that I couldn't stop it, but I care too much about you to _pity_you. I hate that this happened to you. And I'm _not_ leaving."

At this, Lorelai burst into tears; all of the weakness and anguish of the last few days causing her knees to buckle under her. Luke rushed forward, taking her in his arms before she hit the floor. His heart breaking at the sight of Lorelai's body shaking with sobs she couldn't control, Luke moved them both over to her bed, laying her down gently and stroking her hair in an effort to relax her. Within a few minutes, Lorelai's cries had quieted to soft sniffles, and the couple lay together on the bed, simply relishing being in each other's arms. But they both knew that the quiet couldn't last forever, and that they couldn't keep ignoring the situation that they were in. They both had questions whirling around their heads and they both knew they had plenty of things to discuss. Lorelai was about to open her mouth to say something, but instead Luke interjected with a quiet, "Lorelai?"

When Lorelai mumbled an acknowledgement, Luke figured he may as well bring up one question that had been plaguing him above all the others. "What's this?" he asked quietly, showing her the tape that he still had clasped in his hands. When she didn't say anything, he prompted with, "You, uh, you dropped it by your phone before…"

"Yeah, I remember…" she whispered, moving to sit up against the headboard and staring at her hands. "It's the, uh…it's the tape from your answering machine…"

He didn't say anything at first, a bit shocked and confused at why she had his answering machine tape to begin with. But his confusion was cleared when she said, "Bit pointless now, huh? I mean, going all the way over there when you heard everything to begin with. I mean, that's why you came over in the first place, right? Because you got my message? Some crazy woman leaves a desperate, rambling message on your machine, it's kinda hard to ignore, right?" she asked, her voice low and sad.

Sensing her emotions, Luke whispered back, "That's not the only reason."

Lorelai tilted her head back, her eyes locking with Luke's own intense ones. After a few moments, her expression changed from a blank, expressionless stare, to a sleepy half-smile, looking more like her usual self and less like the broken shell of the woman she had been. But as quick as the smile had come, it disappeared again.

"Where did you go?" she asked, her voice still choked with emotion.

"Uh…" he faltered, having his own turn to avoid her gaze.

"Luke, please?" He could hear the same desperation in her voice as he had in Doose's Market, when he'd watched her begging him to talk to her, and he caved. A huge sigh escaped him and filled the quietness of Lorelai's bedroom as he laid them back on the mattress. Quickly glancing at her questioning eyes, he answered her. "I went to see…" he paused, wondering how she would react when he brought up the topic. She had made it clear that she didn't want to talk about what had happened, but on the other hand, lying hadn't exactly worked out for either of them recently. He could feel Lorelai watching him in the darkness, waiting patiently for his explanation. "Christopher. I went to see Christopher." He confessed.

He waited for a reaction, any kind of reaction, but none came. And when he dared to look at her, her face was expressionless once again, frozen next to him. He thought she was angry. Angry that he'd gone behind her back to see Christopher, but she suddenly sprung on him, throwing her arms around his neck and allowing them to be just _them _for the first time since this whole ordeal started. Burying her face in the crook of his neck, breathing his scent in, Lorelai whispered, "thank you." And he knew she meant not only for going to Christopher, but for being there for her despite everything she had done.

And Lorelai _did_ mean just that. She couldn't believe that Luke would go to her ex-boyfriends house to, she could only guess, beat him up, even after they'd had a huge fight about her lying to him and even after they had effectively broken up. No, scratch that – she _could_ believe it. It was _Luke_! This was the man who took in his rebellious nephew, no questions asked, because that's who he was. This was the man who came to her engagement party, even though he still had her horoscope in his wallet. That's who Luke was. But she still greatly appreciated him going to Christopher's. It was one of the most loving and protective things anyone had ever done for her. She loved him all the more for it. And she needed to let him know that.

She leant back, locking eyes with him once again, and it was just _them_. Just the two of them, and for that time, nothing else existed. Just like before. Luke leaned in, pressing his lips softly against hers, his hand cupping the back of her neck as the kiss deepened. With that one touch, they both forgot everything that had happened, and their world returned to normal for that time that they were together. Lorelai tilted her head, allowing him better access, and he took it gladly, laying her gently back on the bed.

Heart rate pounding and breathing laboured, Lorelai frantically reached for Luke's belt buckle, her fingers shaking with anticipation and pent-up emotion. Struggling with how fast she wanted to move versus how shaky her hands were, Lorelai threw herself up at Luke, kissing him with all she was worth, trying to convey everything she felt in that one kiss. Luke looked down at her, seeing the desperate look in her eyes, the frantic pace she was setting, and knew he had to show her that she didn't need to prove anything. So he gently placed a hand around her wrists, stopping her struggles.

She looked at him questioningly, wondering why he was stopping, and her heart rate kicked up a notch. But he simply bent down, his lips meeting hers so slowly and lovingly that she nearly melted into his touch. And she knew more than ever that this was where she belonged. Where _they_ belonged: together. And just like the first time they made love, Luke showed her how much he cared, with as much passion as any other night they came together, but slowly, gently, showing her that everything was going to be okay now that they were together again.

-x-x-x-

Following their loving reunion, lying together in the dark, Lorelai's thoughts began to wander, unable to sleep with Luke's deep breathing filling the air and quiet. Her mind was reeling, unable to stop the thoughts about the last few days and all that Luke had done for her. She thought about her newly discovered feelings for Luke and how she had yet to actually tell him how she felt.

She'd never told anyone before – not even Max or Christopher, but somehow, even with her lack of experience in the matter, she felt strangely confident about telling Luke. He was the one man that had always been there, through thick and thin, through her crazy ramblings and movie obsessions. Only a year ago, if someone had told her, she would never have believed that one day she would be lying in bed with Luke Danes, post-love-making and telling him she loved him. But here she was about to do just that.

She turned over on her side, watching his sleeping form in the darkness, seeing his shadowy figure lying next to her. Before she knew it, she was talking, and she couldn't have stopped it if she had tried.

"Luke?" she asked quietly, just like she had the first time she'd gone to bed early with him. And of course, in the same tired and incoherent way, he answered her just like he had that night. Without hesitation, she whispered, with the barest sound, "I love you..."

As soon as the words left her lips, her confidence slipped, her heart skipped a beat and her desire to flee came rushing back like it had earlier. However, before she had any time to even consider moving, she felt Luke's arms encircling her. She glanced over at him – his eyes were still closed, and his breathing hadn't changed, he simply pulled her closer to him, letting her bury herself in his shoulder. Without a word, he placed a gentle kiss against her temple, and pulled her even closer. Within a few seconds, the two of them began to drift off to sleep.

Both of them knew he didn't need to say anything; his actions had told her all she needed to know about his feelings. Waiting eight years for her, watching her be with men that weren't him but still wanting her to be happy, worrying and caring for her no matter how much they were fighting. He loved her, and they both knew it. With a smile lingering on her face, Lorelai buried herself deeper into him and fell asleep, safe in the comfort of his arms and feeling that nothing could ever hurt her as long as she had Luke Danes.

* * *

_So, what do we think? They've made up! But are their problems behind them? Has Chris decided to leave them alone? Where is Rory? What about the Gilmores? Don't worry, all your questions will be answered!_

_Thank you to everyone who reviewed this, even if I didn't respond, and thanks to all that put this in their favourites and alerts lists. Hope you guys are still looking for new chapters :-)_

_L/Lshipper – Thank you so much for everything you said! I always love getting your reviews :-) hope this chapter cleared up your worries about Luke. But I'm so glad you think I did a good job, I hope this chapter doesn't let you down, and I hope you continue to read this story :-)_

_cass – thanks for reading, and I'm thrilled that you think I captured their characters...I'm with you, I can't read a fanfiction if the character isn't right! Glad this worked for you :-)_

_lalala (: - definitely will, love! Thanks for reading :-)_


	7. Chapter 7

_Okay, so...improvement? Only 3 months instead of 20! Woohoo! And this is a bit of a longer chapter to make up for all the long breaks between updates...shouldn't be long before Chapter 8 is updated as well, I already have it plotted out and have started writing the beginning :-) _

_Anyway, thank you all for the lovely reviews for the last chapter, I'm so glad there are still people reading this...and actually liking it. Thank you to every person that has taken the time to read this story, even with the big pause between updates...I'll definitely be better from now on!_

_So, on with the story, little kiddies =)_

Lorelai woke up the next morning, her eyes fluttering open as they adjusted to the harsh light shining through the windows, and slowly turned around to face the man that held her protectively in his arms. A small smile tugged at her lips as she watched Luke sleep, glad that they had worked out at least some of their problems. But she realised there were still things they had to talk about. Yes, she'd finally told him what Christopher did. Yes, he'd still felt connected enough to go and defend her. Yes, he'd come back, and yes, they'd technically made up. But they hadn't addressed the big issues – the lie she'd told him, Christopher himself and if this meant that they would stay together and try to work past this.

In truth, she was confused. For the first time in her life, she'd found herself truly in love with someone, and she'd let them know it. And although she didn't _need _him to say it – his actions and reactions had proven enough in the last few days how he felt – she still didn't know exactly how Luke was feeling about their little 'make up' the night before. A part of her actually hadn't expected him to be next to her when she woke up. She thought maybe he would have left for his usual early deliveries, or worse, he would have regretted how easily he forgave her for everything. _If_ he forgave her. Did he forgive her?

Just when she was near working her mind into a frenzy once again and exiting the bedroom post-haste, she glanced at Luke again and saw his that his eyes were now open, staring at her worriedly. Releasing a breath she hadn't realised she was holding, Lorelai twisted in his arms to give him a soft kiss on the lips, letting him know that everything was alright – even though she wasn't quite sure herself. When they pulled apart, she laid her head against his chest and felt his grip tighten around her smaller form.

"Hey," he whispered, not quite sure himself of how she was feeling about everything and how he should act. He watched her carefully, taking in her quiet demeanor. Normally when they woke up in the morning, she would chat nonsensically to him, no matter how tired she was. Her uncharacteristic silence was unnerving him, he knew there was something on her mind that she wanted to say. He hated to think that everything that had happened between them since the wedding had caused her to sensor herself. He gently rubbed his hands up and down her back, quietly urging her to tell him what she was thinking.

"I didn't think you'd be here," she confessed, answering his unspoken question in the same quiet tone that he had used. And that was the time that Luke realised they couldn't put off the conversation they needed to have any longer.

"Hey," he repeated, his voice firm this time, causing her to look up at him questioningly. "We're okay, right? I mean, we still need to talk, but...this is behind us, right? I don't care about anything else – I only care about you. And...we're in this together now, yeah?"

His admission caused her to breathe an inward sigh of relief, but before responding, she silently searched his eyes. She was pleasantly surprised to find no sign of any anger he had felt before, any jealously, and thankfully, no pity. But, yes, they did still need to talk.

"I hope so..." she breathed, smiling shyly. "Otherwise, I can view last night as a bit of a downer..." she joked lightly and saw Luke began to smile. But seeing him smiling like that, especially at her, caused all the guilt she had previously felt to resurface once again. She had hurt him. She had lied to him. She had spent the night with her ex, and although nothing had happened, she had still kept it from him. And humiliated him. Sobering suddenly, Lorelai forced herself to look straight into his eyes and said "I'm sorry..." with so much sincerity that Luke's heart lurched.

"Lorelai," he started, but was quickly cut off by Lorelai's slender hand covering his chest.

"No, please, let me just.." she implored, and when he quietly nodded his consent, she continued. "I just...I didn't realise myself why I lied to you about that night with Chris until all of this happened. I've just...I've never really felt this way for someone before. I thought I felt that with Chris once upon a time, but I realise that wasn't love, you know? That was two teenagers who bonded over rebellion and overbearing parents. And then when it wasn't that, it was two adults who had a kid together and were trying to be something we weren't ever meant to be. It wasn't love. _This_ is. And when I realised that I loved you, that I _really_ felt that for someone, I...I got scared, you know? I didn't wanna tell you about going over there that night, because I knew that you'd read something into it, something that wasn't there, and I couldn't take it if you left. After what happened with Nicole, I thought..." she shook her head, for the first time in her life finding it hard to voice all of her thoughts at once. Looking up at Luke, she silently begged for him to understand, using her eyes to convey all that she felt. They lay like that for a few beats, both trying to come to terms with what they were being faced with. Eventually, Luke leaned over, kissing her lightly on the lips.

"I get it," he whispered. "And...you're right. I _did_ read something into it. And I would have had you told me when it happened. But, you have to know, it just made it more suspicious that you hid it. Probably not the best way to go about it," he smiled sadly at her, gently dancing his fingers over her arm. "But I was so convinced that there was something between you two, that something had happened, because...I always felt that you were too good for me, that maybe you deserved someone more like Chris. I guess everything that he said at the wedding just made all those fears surface. I _know_ you wouldn't do that to me, but once those thoughts were there, nothing really had a chance to break through those thoughts to make me stop and think." He paused, taking a deep breath. "I know I didn't say it last night, but...I do love you as well. I guess that's why it hurt so much, you know, the idea of something happening. I couldn't stand it if you left me either."

With that, Lorelai's emotions tipped over the edge and her eyes once again filled with tears.

"Hey, no," Luke soothed her, wiping a stray tear off her cheek. "No more crying, okay? This is good. Talking, you know? Not normally my thing, I know," he chuckled. "But, we can get past this. Past him, okay? Together."

Mutely, Lorelai nodded, smiling tightly at him, trying to reign in her emotions. She knew he was right. Christopher had always been a bit of a wedge between them. Even before they were together, back when they were just friends and Lorelai had stood Luke up for their painting date in order to be with Christopher at her parents house. It hadn't been intentional, but she could tell even back then how much that had hurt him. He had been a wedge between them back when she and Rory had had lunch with him at the Dragonfly, and despite Luke's assurances, he had again made it blatantly obvious how he really felt about that. But it seemed that now that this had all happened, no matter how sad and horrible it was, at least they would now both be able to know that he would never be a problem between them again. And definitely not enough of one to be able to keep them apart again.

Pulling her closer to him, Luke wrapped his arms around her shoulders, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead and letting her lay her head against his chest. They lay like that for several minutes, not speaking, but both basking in the feeling that everything was going to be alright between them.

"No more secrets, okay?" he whispered in her ear. "We both need to know everything, alright? We can't let anything get between us again." He felt her nod against him and kiss his chest, and he squeezed her tight in return. "Come on, let's go get some breakfast, yeah?"

As she moved to pull away from him and get out of bed, Luke gently grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Hang on," he requested, waiting for her to meet his eyes again. When she did, he spoke. "Now that we," he gestured between the two of them. "Now that we're okay...Are you alright? Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently. And by his tone, she knew he wasn't just talking about the fight they'd had, but about something that she had been trying to put off acknowledging.

She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I need coffee first if we're gonna go into this, okay?" she asked, avoiding his caring gaze. She wasn't awake enough for this yet. Setting his jaw and allowing her this moment to gather herself, Luke nodded and patted her arm, indicating that they should therefore head downstairs. Quietly walking downstairs together, they made general morning smalltalk, both trying to act as normal as they usually would. Luke puttered around the kitchen, gathering the ingredients for breakfast and waiting for Lorelai to be ready to talk about this. Making his usual breakfast special, he kept throwing quick glances towards Lorelai, who was sat at the kitchen table, quietly sipping her coffee, keeping her gaze on the table. He knew that she was trying to steel herself for the coming conversation. He knew she was having difficulty preparing herself for this, but he also knew that she was making the effort to share with him, just as they had promised each other.

Finally breakfast was prepared and Luke joined Lorelai at the table so that they could eat together. They were both bracing themselves for the conversation now, both keeping to themselves, but trying to make the silence as least awkward as they could. When they had both finished their breakfast – a small meal for each, as neither had much of a stomach at that moment – knives and forks were set down and Luke turned in his seat to face Lorelai. Noting her averted eyes staring into her lap, Luke silently reached out and took her hand in his, lacing his fingers through her own and gently squeezing, trying to give her the strength she needed for this.

"I don't know where to start," Lorelai began softly after a moment of silence. "I mean, I can't even really think about it myself, let alone put it into words for someone else to understand..." she spoke quickly, but quietly, her grip on Luke's hand growing stronger with every word. "What do you say after the father of your only child tries to –" her voice caught on a sob that even she wasn't expecting and Luke practically lunged forward to wrap his arms around her. He knew this was probably the first time she was even thinking about what Chris had tried to do to her. She had been focusing so much on their problems and the fight that they had, that she was probably trying her hardest _not_ to think about this. He hated seeing her hurt like this, but he knew without doubt that the longer she put off talking about it, the harder it would be to deal with it. He had been debating all night and morning whether to bring it up or not, but he had known that if he didn't bring it up, she wouldn't. And he knew that bottling things up and leaving them to their own devices can only lead to things blowing up: it never ends well. So with this in mind, he gently pulled her from the chair she was sitting on to climb into his lap, feeling her nestle her head into his neck as her crying subsided. He rubbed her back, kissing her neck gently and pulling her close, waiting for her to collect herself enough to continue.

"It shouldn't be this hard," she whispered into his neck. "I mean, he didn't actually – he didn't _really_ do anything, but..." she took a shuddering breath. "He was going to!" she pulled back, her fear and sadness suddenly turning into a fiery anger. "Why did he have to do that? Things have never been great between us, you know? We've fought, we've had moments where we didn't even speak to each other, we've yelled, all that stuff, but we were always friends! And then he has to go and –" she stopped, looking him straight in the eye. She needed his strength for this. "He...he tried to rape me!" she forced out, finally being able to say it. "Why?" she pleaded with him, as if he held the answers to all of life's questions. "Why couldn't we just be friends? I mean, I used to think, I used to _hope_, that one day we could be more, you know? But then Sherry got pregnant and he left, and I think those feelings left with him. I mean, he was finally stepping up and being a dad, and, yeah, it hurt that it wasn't with me, and that he didn't do that when Rory was growing up, but...my heart wasn't broken that he wasn't with me. And then...then there was you." She squeezed his hand that was still entwined with hers, begging him to understand everything she was feeling.

"There was this man that was _always_ there. For me, for Rory. Even before we were a couple, you were always the man in my life. You were the only male role model that Rory really had. And then you kissed me," she smiled, and he smiled in return, but the concern stayed evident in his eyes. "And I realised that you were the one I'd been waiting for all these years. The one that could be my friend, my lover, my protector. The man that loved Rory as much as I did. Just..._the one_..." she stressed. Luke's eyes widened when he realised just what she was saying. He didn't say anything though. He stayed silent, letting her know that he was there, but letting her get all of her thoughts out for herself. "But..." she continued, sighing. "Chris never got that. He had Sherry and they had Gigi, but he never moved on. He never moved on from being the 16 year old rebel who crashed his new car the same night he got it. I mean, look at what he calls me. He won't even say my full name. No matter how old we get, he never stops calling me 'Lor'. He doesn't get that I'm not 'Lor' anymore. I grew up. I moved on. I'm not 'Lor', I'm Lorelai. And I belong with _you_." she stressed urgently, pulling their joined hands to rest on her thigh.

Coming down from the high of her speech, Lorelai sat quietly for a few moments, allowing her breathing to return to normal and the adrenalin she'd been feeling to dissipate. When it had and she seemed to have calmed down somewhat, Luke asked gently, "Feel a bit better?"

Smiling at him in relief, she nodded. "Yeah, a bit."

"Good," he replied, in the same soft, comforting tone. "Lorelai, you have to know that you have every right to feel all of that. Don't ever think that your pain and hurt is unjustified." he said, his tone serious but still comforting. Then, trying to lighten the mood as Lorelai would normally have done, he nudged her. "And you know, I belong with you too. We're not gonna let anyone convince us otherwise again."

She smiled opening at him now, leaning down to softly press her lips against his own. Luke brought his free hand up to caress the back of her neck, his fingers gently twisting in her hair as he deepened the kiss. Sighing against his lips, Lorelai felt all the tension of the last few days leave her shoulders. _Everything's going to be fine_, she thought in relief. Slowing down the force of the kiss, Luke placed several sweet kisses to her lips and cheeks, sitting her squarely on his lap. Looking down at their still joined hands, Lorelai smiled to herself, always loving the sweet side of Luke. Such a contrast to his usual gruff, grumbling self. Although, she always found gruff, ranting Luke sexy.

"Why do you think your mother talked him into coming?" Luke asked suddenly, causing Lorelai to look up at him in surprise. "Oh, come on, Lorelai, the whole thing screamed Emily Gilmore. I know she doesn't think I'm good enough for you," Lorelai opened her mouth to object, but Luke stopped her, "She doesn't. We both know that. But...she hasn't tried something like this before, so what made her do this?" he asked, sounding too hurt for Lorelai's liking. She was always used to her mother making her feel small and shamed, but she hated that she could do that to Luke as well. She observed him silently, thinking on the question he had just asked. She had been asking herself the same thing since the vow renewal. She had thought long and hard about what event would have prompted this behaviour from Emily. But, really, she didn't need to think that hard. She knew the answer. And knowing how hurt he was feeling, she felt that she had to tell Luke. She just hoped that with everything they had spoken about, now that everything was out in the open, that he wouldn't turn running.

She sighed, dropping her gaze from his face to her lap, praying that she wasn't about to scare him away. She couldn't believe she was admitting this. "When we found out that Mom and Dad had gotten back together," she started slowly, "they told us that Rory was going to be the Best Man and that I was going to be the Maid of Honour, and Mom took me upstairs to pick out her dress. We chose lots of different ones, Mom's fashion coordinator was there, and...while she was trying some of them on..." she paused, "I started looking at wedding dresses." she finished, glancing up to look at him. Seeing the confusion marring his features, she elaborated. "I wasn't looking for Mom," she admitted, looking him square in the eye and smiling shyly.

Luke's heart began to pound at her admission, and he silently cursed himself for not believing how invested Lorelai was in this relationship. He had to admit, he had had marriage in the back of his mind for a while, but knowing that they weren't far into the relationship, and knowing of Lorelai's insecurities in her past relationships, he hadn't spoken a word about it. But hearing her admit that she had been thinking about it as well just reinforced how much he really did want to spend the rest of his life with her. Not wanting to scare her after her brutal honesty, and not wanting to give himself away too much, he took on a light tone. He knew how hard it must have been to admit that, and so he strove for casual.

"You weren't, huh? Well, who _could_ you be looking for?" he asked playfully and watched as her lips turned up into a wide smile. He couldn't have described how grateful he was to see her smiling again after all that had happened.

She playfully socked him on the arm, laughing lightly, and asked, "Why do I put up with you?"

He smiled smugly, wrapping his arms around her middle, gloating, "Because you love me."

Smiling sweetly, Lorelai sobered slightly. "Yeah," she whispered softly. "I do."

They sat like that for several moments, staring into each others eyes, both trying to convey to each other the love they felt without words. Lorelai thought that if she saw any couple on the street or at the inn acting like they were at that moment, she would have laughed at how sappy they were. _Acting like teenagers, all moon eyed,_ she would have mocked. But at that moment, she couldn't care less how sappy they were acting. She _did_ love Luke. And he loved her.

Suddenly, their little love bubble burst from a rather loud, urgent bout of knocking on the front door of the Crap Shack. The silence that had enveloped them suddenly shattered and they both nearly sighed in disappointment.

"Lorelai Gilmore, I know you're there, your car is in the driveway!" came Emily Gilmore's loud voice, thus causing them both to voice their disappointment. Lorelai groaned aloud as she was suddenly knocked back to reality and the present situation they had found themselves in.

For his part, Luke rubbed Lorelai's back in sympathy before grousing, "I thought they would be on their 'honeymoon'...?"

"So did I..." Lorelai sighed, pushing herself off of Luke's lap to make her way towards the front door and the incomparable Emily Gilmore. As she approached the door, Lorelai saw her mother's formidable outline through the glass and every ounce of resentment she had felt at the vow renewal came rushing back full force. She threw the door open in her anger, and if looks could have killed, the glare she sent towards her mother would have been liable for a jail sentence.

"Don't you try that look on me, young lady!" Emily snapped, moving to brush past Lorelai and into the house.

Lorelai stood firm, however, with her hand braced on the door frame and her glare still in place. "What do you want, Mother?" she asked, her voice deadly cold.

Ignoring the tone that was being sent her way, Emily shoved past her daughter, stating firmly, "I am here to talk about your incredibly rude behaviour the other night."

"There's nothing to talk about. I told you: we're done. Now, I want you to leave." Lorelai retorted, voice still in that cold, calm voice. Standing just out of view from both of the ladies, Luke was getting unnerved by how calm Lorelai was acting in the situation. He was almost holding his breath, waiting for something to finally make her snap. But she held the attitude, standing in the living room, anger radiating off her so strong that he could feel it from the kitchen. Not wanting to add to the already tense environment, he stayed out of sight, waiting just inside the doorway, so that if Lorelai needed him, he could be there in a flash. But for now, he just listened.

"I don't know what your problem is, Lorelai, but I have just about had it with your need to cause scenes like this. Your father and I had a room full of guests and you decide to make a huge fuss just as we're taking the pictures. I am _not_ leaving until your explain yourself!" Emily demanded, matching Lorelai's defensive stance. Luke closed his eyes, waiting for the explosion he knew was coming. If anything was going to set her off, this would be it.

"You don't know what my problem is?" Lorelai repeated, her raised voice showing her evident exasperation. _There it is,_ thought Luke. "You went to Christopher and told him that it wasn't too late for him to swoop in and whisk me off my feet even though I'm already seeing Luke, that's what my problem is! You invited my ex to an event that both me and my boyfriend were attending and he got drunk and tried to convince me that we belonged together! Do you honestly not see what is so wrong with that? Are you still so set on me going along with your ridiculous plan of marrying Christopher, no matter how long ago that was, that you would purposefully try to sabotage the first relationship I've been in that could actually go somewhere? Do you seriously not get that I don't want to be with Christopher anymore, do you not care that I don't love him? That I never _really_ loved anybody until now, and you're trying to ruin that? Don't you want me to be happy?"

Luke watched as Lorelai voice, which had started off so angry and determined, dwindled down to an edge of desperation that he had only heard come from her once before. In Doose's Market. Peeking around the corner of the doorway, he saw the hurt and want on Lorelai's face. He could see how desperately she wanted her mother to accept her for who she really was. He remembered her telling him once that when she was living with the Gilmore's, she hadn't really wanted any of the dolls, the money, any of the material things she'd been given – although she knew she was lucky to have been given them – she had only wanted their love. Watching her standing in the living room, surrounding by the life and colour of her new life, confronting the mother from her old life, he could see that this was probably going to be her last ditch effort to gain her mother's approval and acceptance.

Disregarding almost everything she had said, not to Luke's surprise but obviously to Lorelai's disappointment, Emily pounced on one particular aspect of her daughter's speech. "You love him?" she sneered.

"Yes, Mother, I love him! He's sweet and caring and so protective of me and Rory! If only you'd take the time to get to know him, you would see how much he loves Rory, how much he takes care of us, how much he's _always_ taken care of us! He yells and grumbles at everyone all day, and he can come off a bit hard nose, but he's actually so sweet you can't stand it. He made Rory a coffee cake and blew up balloons for her 16th birthday, and this is a man who hates participating in town events or parties, but he did it because it's Rory, and he's always loved Rory! He always complains about how much coffee I drink, but yet he _always_ had a mug ready for me. He fixed things around my house without being asked, he cooks –"

Emily cut her off then, once again sneering. "Oh, yes, I've heard that before. Look how well that worked out."

Ignoring the low blow, Lorelai yelled out in vexation, "God, Mom, don't you listen to anything I say? I didn't love Max, Mom, that's why I didn't marry him. I _love _Luke, I do!"

Luke's heard clenched at the sincerity lacing Lorelai's declaration, but he stood firm where he was. He wanted so badly to envelope her in his arms and tell her it was all going to be alright, but he knew that would only make matters worse with Emily present. He knew how badly she wanted her mother in her life, not that she's ever admit that, and he didn't want to jeopardise that. He just hoped that they could talk about their problems one day instead of using them against each other. So he stayed where he was, glad that neither of them had noticed his presence yet.

"Do you still hate us so much that you would rather choose this...this..." Emily fumbled for words, her disdain for the man concerned trumping her usually eloquent tongue. "This _caveman_," she finally spat out, "than someone who is actually in the same standard as you, someone who actually has some class?"

Luke's jaw clenched in anger at that comment and had to work hard to control his temper towards this woman who clearly held nothing but contempt for him. He glanced towards Lorelai, watching as she practically bounced on the balls on her feet in anger, ready to pounce on her mother. He saw the anger on her face, he saw her ready to come back with an angry retort and defend him once again. He couldn't remember the last time he had someone defend him like that. Of course, he hadn't really had anyone insult him as much as Emily Gilmore had.

Before Lorelai could open her mouth in response, Emily started up again. "Do you always have to be so defia..." she trailed off, looking squarely at her daughter for the first time since she walked through the door of the house. "What happened to your eye?" she asked, her eyes finally landing on the purpling bruise on Lorelai's face.

Lorelai winced, her hand instinctively flying up to her face. She'd almost forgotten about that. She'd been covering it with make-up since it happened that she hadn't been worried about anyone seeing it. But having just woken up only an hour before, she hadn't even thought about it. It had barely been two days since this ordeal started and she had been focusing on Luke and their fights and discussions rather than anything else. Unfortunately, as much as she sometimes wished it worked that way, just because things are out of your mind does not mean that they are out of sight. Especially not for other people.

"Did that greasy diner man do that to you?" Emily accused, her face a picture of anger and judgement.

Lorelai barked out a laugh. A short, bitter, hollow laugh that permeated the otherwise silent house, echoing all around them. "No, Mom, Luke would never lay a hand on me. Ever. Actually, this beautiful mark you see here is courtesy of Christopher. You know," she added facetiously, "the man who is so much 'in the same standard' as me. What, like I'm a poodle or something?"

Emily merely rolled her eyes, scoffing loudly. "Oh, for God's sake, Lorelai, if you're going to lie to me, at least make it believable. You know as well as I do that Christopher would never hurt you. I've seen the way Luke acts towards his customers, it's not much of a stretch that he'd get jealous of a man so much better suited for you."

Lorelai's jaw dropped. She had been trying her whole life to get her mother to listen to her. To at least _try_ to understand why Lorelai had done the things she had in her life, why she had moved out with Rory, why she didn't want to borrow a second lot of money from her parents, why she hadn't stopped Christopher when he'd gone back to Sherry. But she'd never really _heard_ her. Richard and Emily would never understand their daughter, as much as Lorelai tried to get them to. And so it shouldn't have surprised her that Emily didn't listen to anything she'd said about Luke, anything she'd said about Christopher, about her true feeling. But it did. She couldn't believe that after everything she had said that morning, all her mother had heard from it was that she hated her parents and that Luke was jealous of Christopher's wooing efforts. _Well, _she thought, _at least that's more than 'Blah, blah, blah, Ginger'..._

But no amount of jokes and bad references could deflect the hurt she felt that the only real mother she would ever know would never make the effort to get to know her only daughter. "You never listen to a word I say, do you?" she asked, her voice low and sad. "Get out."

Emily stopped short, staring her daughter down for a beat or two, before she turned on her heel and stormed out of the house, slamming the door in her wake. With the sound of the door closing, Luke slowly made his way into the living room, watching as Emily drove away from the house, before turning to look at Lorelai. Slowly, he watched as her eyes filled with tears and she collapsed on the couch in exhaustion, sobs once again wracking her body.

Luke made his way over to her, sitting beside her on the couch and slinging an arm across her shoulders. Lorelai leaned into him, relieved that no matter what happened between she and her parents from now on, that she would always have Luke to lean on. Even if, sometime in the distant future, something did happen between them, she knew he would always be there as a friend to take the brunt of any anger she had for her parents, or any sadness over her problems.

After a few moments, Lorelai's crying quieted and she was just left with soft sniffles and wet cheeks, with Luke's strong arms holding her close. All of a sudden, the front door came flying open and Luke braced himself for another onslaught of the wrath of Emily Gilmore, when a much younger voice suddenly filled the room.

"Mom, hey, I heard – What –" Rory's voice cut off, seeing Luke holding a crying, red-faced Lorelai in his arms. "What happened?" she asked, her hurry suddenly turning into confusion and concern.

Lorelai jolted herself, plastering a fake smile onto her face for her daughter's benefit and spun around, assuring her, "Nothing, everything's fine."

But as soon as she turned around, the same purple bruise that had caught Emily's eyes caught the beloved youngest Gilmore Girl's attention as well.

"Mom, your eye!" Rory exclaimed, rushing over to her mother's side.

_God,_ thought Lorelai dully, _why does everybody have to come over before I have make-up on?_

_Well, my loves, a much longer chapter for you this time. Thought I'd do my part to make up for the lack of update-y goodness! Hope this satisfies everyone's reading expectation. What on earth are they going to tell Rory? Have to wait til next time!_

_Thanks to unsigned reviewers - _

_Kimi – So glad you've enjoyed the story so far. It's great that this still garners interest even though its part-way through. Hope the next chapter will satisfy your curiosity =)_

_LLshipper – Thank you so much for your kind words, love! I'm glad that you think they're in character, because there has been moments where I wondered if it didn't sound quite like them...hope this chapter also worked. Please keep reading, and reviewing, I always love to hear people's views on my stories, be they positive or about improvements!_

_And thank you to all those who have added this story to their Favourites and Alerts list, as well as subscribed to myself. It's so good to know that people really like my stuff!_


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